Blossoms in the Dust (1941)

Edna (Greer Garson) and her adoptive sister Charlotte (Marsha Hunt) are happily set to be married into the upper crust of Wisconsin society. However, their destinies are changed when Edna breaks off her engagement to marry Texan Sam Gladney (Walter Pidgeon) an associate of her father’s who brashly declares he will marry her. When Sam returns a year later for Edna, after opening up his flourmill, Mr. and Mrs. Keats (Kathleen Howard and George Lessey), Charlotte's future in-laws, tell the Kahlys (Fay Holden and Samuel Hinds) that their son Allan (William Henry) cannot marry her because she was a "nameless" foundling. Charlotte is devastated by the news and kills herself.

Two years later, Edna, who has moved to Texas and married Sam, gives birth to a boy and is told that she can have no more children. On Christmas Day, a few years later, tragedy strikes when their son is killed in an accident. Edna hides her grief by becoming a society hostess until Sam and Dr. Max Bresler (Felix Bressart), who attended her at Sammy's birth, try to get her interested in caring for other children. Though reticent at first, she and Sam set up a day nursery for working mothers, which they finance from their own fortune until Sam loses his mill due to the decline of wheat prices.

Selling everything they own, they move to Fort Worth where Sam works as a mill hand while trying to develop a new wheat process. On the day that Edna takes his new process to be notarized, she sees some children in a courtroom and discovers that they are orphans, tagged like cattle, and rejected by prospective adoptive parents because they are illegitimate. She brings two children home; one of them is named Tony who is very ill. With very little money and a lot of help from her friends Zeke and Cleo (Clinton Rosemond and Theresa Harris), she opens a storefront orphanage called the Texas Children's Home and Aid Society and arranges for adoptions for her charges, making certain parents and children are well suited for each other. However, the city councilmen close the home for zoning violations. Determined to keep up the fight, Edna must do so without Sam who passes away. 

She travels throughout Texas, collecting funds until she is able to open a large new home. As the years pass, Edna finds good homes for many children, but realizes that she has additional work to do when she receives a donation from a despondent young woman who is in the same predicament as her sister Charlotte was. Determined to change the law that brands children "illegitimate" and have it removed from birth certificates she fights and wins her battle to have a bill passed in the Texas legislature. But once one battle is over she must fight another, this time she fights for Tony who is wanted by a husband and wife who recently lost their only child. Wanting Tony for herself, Edna must stop and think what’s best for the child she loves so much and eventually gives him away to a loving home where he can have all the attention from a mother and a father.

A story based on the real life of Edna Gladney, Blossoms in the Dust is a real heartwrencher. In my opinion, Greer Garson was the best at eliciting sympathy…and tears. She was a phenomenal actress as TCM will prove tonight by showing the five movies that garnered her the distinction of being the only actress besides Bette Davis to be nominated five times in a row for Best Actress! If you spend the evening with her, then you will also get a healthy dose of Walter Pidgeon, a dynamic and talented player in his own right.

Oscar trivia:

Greer Garson was nominated seven times in her career and holds the distinction of being nominated five times in a row, a distinction she share with Bette Davis. She was nominated for Best actress for her roles in Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Blossoms in the Dust, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, The Valley of Decision, and Sunrise at Campobello. She won her only Oscar for Mrs. Miniver.


Walter Pidgeon garnered two Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his roles in Mrs. Miniver and Madame Curie.

Camera Shot!

Myrna Loy and William Powell on The Thin Man set.

Joan Crawford and Cliff Robertson on the Autumn Leaves set.

Gloria Swanson and William Holden on the Sunset Boulevard set.

Ann Todd and Ethel Barrymore on The Paradine Case set.

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman on the Casablanca set.

Charlotte Henry and Sterling Holloway (as the toad) on the Alice in Wonderland set.

Bette Davis and Leslie Howard on The Petrified Forest set.

Tonight on TCM!

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) A gang of small time crooks plots an elaborate jewel heist. Cast: Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore Dir: John Huston

Uh oh! Looks like someone is "Holden" out till Christmas!

Camera Shot!

 Loy and Powell in The Thin Man

 Crawford and Robertson in Autumn Leaves

 Todd and Berrymore in The Paradine Case

 Bergman and Bogart in Casablanca

 Henry as Alice and Hollway as Frog in Alice In Wonderland

 Swanson and Holden in Sunset Boulevard

Davis in Essex and Elizabeth

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The Terror (1963) A lost soldier discovers a mysterious beauty haunting a half-deserted castle.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Jack Nicholson, Sandra Knight, Richard Miller Dir: Roger Corman

Executive Suite (1954)

Executive Suite is one of the first films to deal with the politics and corruption found in the corporate rat race. After the sudden death of its president Avery Bullard, the viewer is invited in to watch how the relationships between the board members, their secretaries, and their wives unfold into a battle for control of the Tredway Furniture Company. Julia Tredway (Barbara Stanwyck), the chief stockholder and daughter of the firm's founder, is tasked with surveying the candidates for the executive position. Unfortunately, she is also the severely depressed and lonely mistress of Avery Bullard, willing to give up her share of the company as she wants nothing more to do with Tredway Corporation. This is particularly helpful to Loren Shaw (Fredric March), who is so ruthless in his quest to reach the top that he uses blackmail as a means of getting support. He blackmails Josiah Dudley (Paul Douglas), who is having an affair with his secretary Eva (Shelley Winters) and George Caswell (Louis Calhern), who sold stock he did not have in order to buy it back cheap when the news of Bullard’s death reached the streets. McDonald Walling (William Holden) couldn’t imagine any thing worse than Shaw being the president. He’s had past battles with Shaw over manafacturing certain products, Shaw’s tactics of increasing profit and decreasing expenses is harmful to a company that once took pride in what it made. Walling throws his hat in the ring but only finds he is supported by Fred Alderson (Walter Pidgeon). Jesse Grimm (Dean Jagger) is the ideal candidate but he wants to retire and he thinks Josiah Dudley would make a better president than the younger, inexperienced Walling. But Dudley can’t run, he’s being blackmailed by Shaw. Walling turns to Ms. Tredway who is unresponsive to his pleas to assist him in saving the company. Walling ends up berating her, so much so, that to Shaw’s displeasure, she decides to sit in on the nominations instead of being there by proxy. She, along with Alderson, Caswell, Shaw, Dudley and Grimm, listen as Walling gives an impassioned speech that makes everyone, even Shaw realize that Walling is the perfect man for president.

McDonald Walling: The force behind a great company has to be more than the pride of one man; it has to be the pride of thousands. You can't make men work for money alone - you starve their souls when you try it, and you can starve a company to death the same way.

McDonald Walling: [picking up a small, flimsy table] And that's when we started doing things like this: the KF line. Walt, are your boys proud when they go out and sell this stuff? When they know the finish is going to crack, the veneer split off and the legs come loose?

Loren Phineas Shaw: Wait a minute, wait a minute. That's priced merchandise - it serves a definite purpose in the profit structure of this company. We're not cheating anyone.

McDonald Walling: Ourselves!

Loren Phineas Shaw: At that price, the customer knows exactly what he is going to get.

McDonald Walling: This! [flips the table over, and easily tears off one of its legs]

McDonald Walling: This is what Tredway has come to mean! [violently throws the leg against the wall]

McDonald Walling: And what do you suppose the people think of us when they buy it? How do you suppose the men in the factories feel when they make it? What must they think of a management that is willing to stoop to selling this kind of junk in order to add a dime a year to the dividend?

Loren Phineas Shaw: After all, that's only part of our business. Eventually we can cut down on the line...

McDonald Walling: We'll drop that line! And we'll never again ask a man to do anything that will poison his pride in himself or his work.

McDonald Walling: We'll have a line of low-priced furniture, a new and different line - as different from anything we're making today as a modern automobile is different from a covered wagon. That's what you want Walt, isn't it - what you've always wanted? Merchandise that will sell because it had beauty and function and value - not because the buyers like your scotch or think that you're a good egg. The kind of stuff that you, Jesse, will feel in your guts when you know it's coming off your production line. A kind of product that you will be able to budget to the nearest hundredth of a cent, Shaw, because it will be scientifically and efficiently designed. And something you will be proud to have your name on, Miss Tredway.

Full of witty, provocative dialogue and edgy confrontation between the many characters, Executive Suite is so brilliantly turned out that it needed no musical score to add emotion or give emphasis to a scene. I really liked this movie- even though I hated that nobody else liked Shaw. That’s how great Fredric March plays his character. He isn’t really a villain, he’s just blinded by what he thinks is best for the company. Unfortunately, what he thinks is incorrect. His nervous habit of constantly wiping his hands on his handkerchief is endearing, especially when you find he has a secret stash in his desk drawer. At the end of the film, though not everyone got what they wanted, they left the boardroom with optimism and with a sense of being a team. That’s how great Walling’s speech was. Despite his dislike of Shaw’s policy, he still believes Shaw is an asset to the company; Shaw was simply doing the job assigned to him, cut the budget.

Picnic (1955)

On the morning of a small town Labor Day picnic, drifter Hal Carter (William Holden) arrives in town to visit his old college buddy Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson) hoping to get a high paying job or at least some sort of hand out. Hal is a man full of bravado with a penchant for tall tales and bragging. His biggest desire is to get rich and live the easy life but he’s lazy, impatient and quick tempered- not a good combination for holding down any sort of real work. Underneath it all, there is a really sensitive side to Hal who hasn’t had an easy upbringing and lives in fear of being a loser like his alcoholic father. However, when he meets Madge Owens (Kim Novak), the town beauty queen and girlfriend of Alan, he feels, for the first time, a desire to earn a living honestly, not for himself but for her.
William Inge’s play is full of complex characters. Madge is tired of being known and loved only for her beauty, tired of her mother, Flo (Betty Field) pressuring her to marry Alan simply because he has money. Flo’s a lonely woman who has struggled to bring up two children after her husband abandoned them. She is so blinded by the security that Alan can offer Madge, security that she has always desired, that she doesn’t see that Madge doesn’t love Alan and that her younger daughter Millie (Susan Strasberg) is suffering from all the attention Madge is getting. It’s hard being the younger, tomboy sister to the town beauty. Millie feels like an ugly duckling and she sees in Hal a kind man who gives her an ego boost by being her date to the picnic. However, that much needed attention falls to the wayside when Madge comes around. Hal only has eyes for her. Then there is schoolmarm Rosemary Sidney (Rosalind Russell), a renter in the Owens home. She’s a self-proclaimed spinster who brags much about the love she would have had if she weren’t so independent. She’s as full of bravado as Hal is and after getting drunk at the picnic and giving Hal a piece of her mind, she begs her longtime beau Howard (Arthur O’Connell) to marry her, admitting that she lives a miserable existence. Long suffering Howard does not know how to handle this side of Rosemary. She’s always been so upright, prudish, and fiercely independent. He’s come to count on that and is settled in his own ways. And lastly there is Alan, the rich boy in a small town with responsibilities to his father’s company and a reputation to uphold- at least according to his father. But Alan loves Madge, wants to marry her and doesn’t care how his family feels about it.




Adapted from William Inge's Pulitzer prize-winning play, Picnic, a box office draw and star -making vehicle for Kim Novak, was highly acclaimed and considered quite racy for 1955 but in my opinion, quite disappointing. It's one of those movies that was ill adapted for the screen, playing more like a play than a film. Despite its potential the movie is full of overdramatic moments seriously overacted and slightly embarrassing to watch. Disappointing too is Holden's Hal Carter, who is much like Holden's Joe Bonaparte from Golden Boy (1939), tempermental, desperate, and at times downright childish. Though this would have been a good part for Newman (who performed this role onstage), Brando, or Dean- it's definitely not a part suited for Holden who was too old and in my opinion, established for the role. When I see him in films like Stalag 17 (1953), Executive Suite (1954), and The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) I have to wonder who thought it was a good idea to put him in a vehicle like Picnic...or who said these pictures would really sum up the film. What?



As for Kim Novak, besides Vertigo (a film I believe she is best known for), this is the only film I have seen her in. I think she is better known for her beauty than her acting, Picnic helped prove that. Her super wicked mullet caught more of my attention than anything else.



Tonight on TCM!
The lovely Lauren Bacall!

Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

After his beloved wife Susan passes and Big Davey (William Holden) realizes that his son is growing “woodsy” so, he heads to the local stockade to make inquiries about getting a new wife. What Big Davey didn’t count on was being so easily accommodated. Parson Jackson knows of a bondswoman named Rachel (Loretta Young) that can be bought. So, Big Davey leaves the stockade with a new and timid wife and a resentful son.
Months go by with Rachel trying to prove herself to both the Daveys and making no headway until an old family friend drops by to stay awhile. Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum) is just what every guy needs to realize he has a beautiful woman for a wife. Fairways is charming and considerate, he doesn’t treat Rachel as a servant but as an equal and having seen her charms immediately, he falls for her. Big Davey’s eyes are suddenly opened when he sees how Rachel blossoms under Fairways attention. When he finally thinks Fairways is going to leave, he is surprised and angry that Fairways offers to buy Rachel from him, worst yet, Fairways makes a direct proposal to Rachel. However, Rachel, has had enough of both Fairways flirtatiousness and Big Davey’s indifference, not to mention dealing with an ungrateful stepson and so decides to leave, feeling that she has more than made of for the $18 that Big Davey used to buy her.
With two handsome men hot on her trail, Rachel must decide if either of them are worth all the trouble.

Thanks to Meredy for the screen shots!

Overall, I really liked this film. A young Holden and Mitchum are always pleasant to look upon and Loretta Young is a georgeous as ever. Though I have not seen many of Holden's films- as mentioned before, I especially liked him in this one because he played a much softer character. He obviously got a better hold on his acting skills and came off quite well with his mixture of contriteness, shyness, and blustering jealousy as Rachel's less-than-perfect husband. As for Mitchum, that guy is a human quaalude. I like him though, you can't help but like him. I bet he was awesome in a chaotic situation.

Side note:
Modern sources note that RKO rushed the picture into release to take advantage of the publicity surrounding Mitchum's September 1948 arrest for marijuana possession.

Tonight on TCM!
Some Like It Hot (1959) Two musicians on the run from gangsters masquerade as members of an all-girl band. Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft Dir: Billy Wilder

Golden Boy (1939)

Joe Bonaparte (William Holden) loves to play the violin however he sets it aside for the boxing ring and its lure of easy money, despite his father’s misgivings and fear that Joe will break his hands and never be able to play again. Joe convinces a down and out boxing manager, Tom Moody (Adolphe Menjou) to let him fight and his success in the ring soon draws the attention of mobster Eddie Fuseli(Joseph Calleia).
Meanwhile, Joe falls for Moody’s girl Lorna Moon (Barbara Stanwyck) a girl who’s been burned by love and finds it easier to be in a loveless union. When Joes has second thoughts of becoming a boxer, Lorna convinces him he should stick to it. But when Lorna sees how boxing is affecting Joe’s music and his relationship with his father, she convinces him to leave boxing, especially after Joe captures Fuseli’s attention.

Will Lorna have the courage to love again? Will Joe give up boxing before it’s too late?

Film stills courtesy of Dr. Macro

I was very interested in seeing this film because I have only seen William Holden in his later successes such as Stalag 17, Executive Suite, Bridge on the River Kwai, and Network. The title Golden Boy is appropriate as Holden looks shiny and nubile with his dimples and curls before nicotine changed his voice and he was regularly pickling himself. However Golden Boy doesn’t offer much of interest beyond the young Holden. It’s a good example of one of the lesser great films of 1939. Holden’s acting is borderline comical, his explosive anger comes off more a toddler’s tantrum than a man at war with the choices he’s made. His relationship with the camera is shy with every close-up shot revealing his inability to look directly into the lens. The plot is flimsy with no great dialogue to give it legs, and it runs on far too long. Joseph Calleia’s acting is stilted and flat as if being polite presents difficulty. Adolphe Menjou seems to float through the film making no impact whatsoever. The eleven year age difference between Stanwyck and Holden is lengthened by Stanwyck’s no-nonsense style of acting and her steadily maturing face; she came of more motherly than amorous. Combine all this with Lee J. Cobb’s stereotypical Italian father, right down to the-a-way-a-he-a-speaka, and you are no longer enjoying film so much as filling time praying for it to end. Thus proving that even great directors such as Rouben Mamoulian have off days.


Dodsworth (1936)
A husband whose wife left him looks for new love in Europe. Cast: Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas, Mary Astor Dir: William Wyler

S&G: Sweet irony...

Do you see what I see?

Hint: It's a character from one of my favorite books! One whom I always think of when I see William Holden.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

Warning: Serious Spoilers in this entry!

Every once in a while you’ll watch a movie that really resonates with you. When I recorded The Bridges at Toko-Ri it was explicitly because it’s my goal to see everything available that Fredric March has been in. Though I enjoyed March in the film, I got much more than I bargained for. The Bridges at Toko-Ri is still on my mind, the message and the action in the film was that powerful. It is a film with a message that is both patriotic and anti-war. It openly criticizes US involvement while praising those who fought in it. No easy task. It gives an honest example of the sacrifices armed forces made in a time when America was war-weary and most participants were reluctant to fight.

Lt. Harry Brubaker (William Holden) is a former military pilot who served in WWII and has been recalled to duty from the Navy Reserve. Despite believing he's already served his country and wanting to devote himself to his wife Nancy (Grace Kelly) and their children, Brubaker reluctantly accepts his commission. He is sent back into action as a pilot, with a special assignment to blow up strategically vital bridges in the Korean canyon of Toko-Ri.
Rear Admiral George Tarrant (Fredric March) is no stranger to sacrifice, he has lost two sons to war, his daughter-in-law went crazy after losing her husband, and his wife sits quietly in a room devoid of any love or feeling, knitting a baby’s sweater. In the face of all this, Tarrant still believes in duty and encourages Brubaker, who reminds him much of his lost son, to fight, not because he wants to but because circumstances demand it and that’s his job.
Nancy Brubaker is a wife who is kept in the dark. Her husband doesn’t like to discuss his missions in order to save her from worry. When she briefly visits her husband on his three day leave in Tokyo, she meets Tarrant who encourages her to ask her husband about what he does. Tarrant uses his own daughter-in-law as an example, she wasn’t strong enough to handle the news when she heard her husband died and tried to find comfort in the arms of other soldiers. When Nancy is told by her husband of his dangerous mission, she worries but feels stronger for the knowledge.
While Tarrant tells Nancy his tragedy, Brubaker is off to get Mike Forney (Mickey Rooney) out of a Tokyo jail. He got into a fight over a girl and he and Nestor Gamidge created eighty dollars worth of mess, a fine that Brubaker gladly pays as Nestor and Forney are a part of the helicopter rescue squad and have gotten Brubaker out of some serious scrapes.
After his three day leave Brubaker boards the ship reluctantly. When he flies another mission and witnesses first hand the difficulty of it he has a hard time coming to terms with what he must do. His anxiety is palpable as he tries to find some escape on the large ship. Though given the option to ground himself if he doesn’t think he’s mentally capable of the mission, Brubaker forges ahead. The mission goes well but his jet is shot and leaking fuel badly. Thus begins a drawn out scene filled with suspense as the viewer wonders if he will make it back to the ocean where he can crash safely out of the enemy’s gun lines. Commander Lee (Charles McGraw) is in a jet beside him and you can’t help but wonder if you were in that situation whether you wouldn’t be upset by the circumstances. The commander has made it through the mission safely all he needs to do is fly back to the ship while you must worry if you are going to have to land amongst the enemy.
Brubaker’s jet does not make it and knowing that the enemy loves to shoot at parachuters, he decides to crash in open field. Forney and Nestor are on their way as Brubaker runs to hide out in an irrigation ditch. The enemy crawls quickly towards him and he is saved by his commander and the other jets that fly over to shoot at them. It’s a very touching scene, this unity he has with his fellow officers but you quickly realize the futility of it. When Forney arrives the helicopter is damaged by artillery, Nestor is killed immediately. It’s getting on dark and no more help will arrive until the next day. The jets can no longer stay as they have run out of ammunition and will soon run out of fuel. The enemy has several reinforcements. Forney hands Brubaker a gun and tells him how to use it. Brubaker doubts he’ll be able to hit any target.
Lt. Harry Brubaker: I'm a lawyer from Denver, Colorado.
Mike Forney: Judas, how'd you wind up in a smelly ditch in Korea?
Lt. Harry Brubaker: I was just asking myself that same question.
It’s then that Brubaker realizes the true meaning being Tarrant’s words; one fights because that’s what one is supposed to do. As the enemy closes in, you can’t help but hope that some great miracle will happen. This is William Holden for corn sakes! You can’t kill William Holden! This is Holden at his finest as he scrambles around that irrigation ditch, his desperation and adrenaline might as well be yours because if you aren't standing at this point watching, you are at the very least on the edge of your seat. Brubaker fights until the very end.
When the three deaths are confirmed Tarrant questions Lee as to whether the mission really went well or not. His emotions are mixed up in that question, something that Lee points out and Tarrant concedes to. The film ends with Tarrant asking a most important question: “Where do we get such men?”

This was an absolutely outstanding film. The fighter jet sequences were exciting, the action was exciting. The realistic nature of the film, the way it captured a person’s sacrifice was very well done. I would highly recommend this movie simply because of Holden and March. Kelly and Rooney I could do without as I find one supremely overrated and the other an ass.



Tonight on TCM!
Christmas In Connecticut (1945)A homemaking specialist who can't boil water is forced to provide a family holiday for a war hero. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet, Reginald Gardiner Dir: Peter Godfrey