Happy Holidays!

Tonight on TCM!
Going My Way (1944) A young priest revitalizes a failing parish and brings new life to the elder priest. Dir: Leo McCarey Cast: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh.

An Earthquake and Hurricane in the same week? I think it's time to discuss The Rains Came (1939)

Tom Ransome (George Brent),  a nonchalant philanderer has spent years in India watching the people and the rains come and go. He has an ardent admirer in Fern Simon (Brenda Joyce), the daughter of American missionaries who is fascinated by Tom and his reputation. However, Tom regards her as a child. When he runs into an old flame who is now Lady Edwina Esketh (Myrna Loy), having married the wealthy and uncouth Lord Esketh (Nigel Bruce), Tom is alarmed by her behavior. Worse yet, he realizes he has built his reputation on behaving just like her.  

Edwina, bored with her marriage, carelessly tries making a conquest of Tom's friend, Major Rama Safti (Tyrone Power). However, the major is too preoccupied with his work as a doctor to pay her any attention. Meanwhile, as the rains fall, Tom finds himself falling in love with Fern. Then disaster strikes when an earthquake destroys the dams and releases flood waters into Ranchipur, killing Lord Esketh and the Maharajah (H. B. Warner). When the Maharani (Maria Ouspenskaya) asks Tom to help her people, Fern joins him. Plague sweeps the city and as the major fights to contain it, Edwina volunteers to help in the hospital despite the risks. The major, touched by her selflessness, finally falls in love with her. However, in the most harrowing scene Edwina accidentally drinks from a contaminated glass and falls victim to the plague. The major is unable to save her. Tom and Fern get married and the major, successfully contains the plague to become the Maharajah.

The Rains Came isn't quick entertainment, it has its slow moments but it also has a few heavy hitters. Besides some pretty good special effects, Brent, Power, Ouspenskaya, and Joyce play their parts wonderfully. The real star however, is Loy. An unusual part for her as evidenced in her future work, she nonetheless shows her dramatic chops and is most touching in her deathbed scene. Definitely worth seeing just once.


Tonight on TCM- if the power stays on...
Linda Darnell! Oh, A Letter to Three Wives sounds fun!

The Thin Man Collection

Before this month is over I want to feature two stars and their best collaboration, The Thin Man series, who are basically the inspiration for this blog. Back in 2009 I wrote a blog about these two wonderful creatures who, despite being extremely talented both with and without one another in their films, never received an Oscar for any single performance they were in.

Nick you clever, sly one. You get 'em every time! Here one thinks they may be dealing with a a incompetent detective and frankly, a bit of a drunk, and then Wham! case solved and you're on your way back to the bar. I honestly thought you'd never quit solving crime and was sad to realize after Song of the Thin Man, you finally were.

Having watched these movies several times throughout my life, I have come to appreciate them even more. My love for Asta's tricks and Nick's and Nora's silly facial expressions evolved into a love for the quick, witty banter and the obvious on-screen chemistry of William Powell and Myrna Loy.

What's not to love?

The Thin Man (1934)

Reporter"Say listen, is he working on a case? "
Nora Charles
"Yes, he is. "
Reporter
"What case? "
Nora Charles
"A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him."

After the Thin Man (1936)

Nick Charles
"You see, when it comes to words like that, an illiterate person-- "
Polly Byrnes
"Whaddaya mean "illiterate"? My father and mother were married right here in the city hall!"

Another Thin Man (1939)

Nora Charles"I got rid of all those reporters. "
Nick Charles
"What did you tell them? "
Nora Charles
"We're out of scotch. "
Nick Charles
"What a gruesome idea."

The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)

Nick Charles

"A couple of weeks on this cider and I'll be a new man."

Nora Charles

"I sort of like the old one. "

Nick Charles

"Why, darling, that's the nicest thing you've said to me since the time I got my head caught in that cuspidor at the Waldorf."

Did you know?

The characters of Nick and Nora are often thought to reflect the personalities of Hammett and his long-time lover, Lillian Hellman.

Because the "Thin Man" title was used for the subsequent movies, it's often mistaken that the term refers to Nick Charles himself; in fact it refers to Clyde Wynant, the mysterious and eccentric patriarch around whom the plot of Dashiell Hammet's book revolves.

The first Thin Man was shot in 16 days.

Myrna Loy's Thin Man salary was reportedly half of the $3,000 a week earned by Powell and she felt that if the studio publicized the two as a team, they should pay them accordingly. Loy held out and L.B. Mayer finally relented -- a record event in the history of a man well known for his threats and tricks to get his own way.

Audiences had trouble separating fact from fiction when it came to Powell and Loy's relationship.

The public was determined to have them married in private life as well. When the two stars showed up in San Francisco (where most of After the Thin Man was shot) at the St. Francis, the hotel management proudly showed "Mr. and Mrs. Powell" to their deluxe suite. This was an especially uncomfortable moment as Jean Harlow, who was engaged to Powell, was with them, and the couple had not made a public statement about their relationship. Harlow saved the day by insisting on sharing the suite with Loy while Powell took another room elsewhere.


Why I love them!



William Powell and Myrna Loy, such a wonderful combination. He was never afraid to act a fool and she was never afraid to call him out on it. Such a wonderful couple with obvious on screen magic, they did thirteen films together and Myrna had a cameo in The Senator Was Indiscreet.

Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

The Thin Man (1934)

Evelyn Prentice (1934)

The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Libeled Lady (1936)

After the Thin Man (1936)

Double Wedding (1937)

Another Thin Man (1939)

I Love You Again (1940)

Love Crazy (1941)

Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944)

Song of the Thin Man (1947)

The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947)




Oscar trivia:

William Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, and Life with Father.


Myrna Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award for any single performance, however, in 1991 she received an Honorary Award for “Career Achievement”.

Lonelyhearts (1958)

When the young and impressionable Adam White (Montgomery Clift) finally gets his wish to work for the Chronicle newspaper, he is unaware of how much his experience with the jaded Bill Shrike (Robert Ryan) will change him. Having sat for weeks waiting for the opportunity to meet Shrike, befriending his friendly but alcoholic wife Florence (Myrna Loy) in the process, White is taken aback by Shrike’s overbearingly sardonic demeanor. He is further confused when Shrike assigns him the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column. Shrike has an ulterior motive for doing so caused by a major psychological burden that concerns in part Shrike’s unhappy wife who once cheated on him.

Initially Adam treats the letters as a joke, doggedly sticking to his task until the desperation in the letters start to affect him personally. Determined to rid Adam of any innocence on conscientiousness, to open his eyes to how the real world is, Shrike refuses Adam’s eventual request to be removed from the assignment.

Wanting to keep his job and to do right by the people writing the letters, Adam becomes more involved in his work which takes its toll on his relationship with girlfriend, Justy Sargeant (Dolores Heart). When Shrike suggests that Adam actually meet one of the letter writers so that he can see for himself that they’re mostly a bunch of fakes, Adam does so. He meets with Fay Doyle (Maureen Stapleton), whose husband she says is crippled and cannot love her in the physical sense. Giving her what he thinks she really needs, physical love, White goes into a tailspin when he realizes the truth about Fay. It causes him to reflect about his own personal life, the dark secrets he’s been keeping and most importantly whether Shrike is correct about people in general or not.

There is no doubt that Montgomery Clift was a gifted actor. He stands apart from the other characters in Lonelyhearts mostly in his stilted delivery of dialogue and the use of his large blue eyes and his small, almost fragile hands that add weight to his character who is very much a pacifist. Maureen Stapleton, a newcomer to the screen and who was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress for this film was also noteworthy. Her act of putting on an act was eerily convincing.

My only problem with the film was the weight of the dialogue, mostly delivered by Robert Ryan who manages to be a real SOB in this film. As a hard-boiled editor, they have him speaking too poetically and it didn’t sync with the physicality of the character, or the background scenes. 

Oscar Trivia:

Myrna Loy never received a nomination for an Academy award. She did however received an Honorary Oscar for her entire portfolio of work.

Montgomery Clift received four Best Actor nominations for the Academy Award for his work in The Search, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity, and Judgement at Nuremberg.

Robert Ryan's breakthrough film role was in Crossfire and won Ryan his sole career Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.

Maureen Stapleton was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this film. She was nominated three more times (Airport and Interiors) for the same category before she won for her role in Reds.

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

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

Tonight on TCM!

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

Myna foresees...

Halloween Coming!

Double Wedding (1937)

Loy and Powell are at it again! Double Wedding is the story of Margit Agnew (Loy) who is the overbearing older sister who unwittingly controls the lives of all those around her. Namely her younger sister Irene (Florence Rice) and her fiance Waldo (John Beaver). Tired of how cowardly Waldo is when Margit is around and worried that her sister is planning her life into misery, Irene strikes out and uses Charlie Lodge(Powell) her acting coach as a means for escape.

Unbeknownst to Charlie, he is now a part of a false love triangle with Waldo being in love with Irene, Irene is pretending to love Charlie, and Charlie being smitten with Margit. After Irene tells Margit that she is going to marry Charlie and not Waldo, Margit strikes a deal with Charlie, if he stays away from Irene, she will sit for one of his portraits. Charlie, now aware of what Irene is up too, secretly tries to bolster Waldo's courage to win Irene over, and win Margit over himself.

Margit is so stubborn however, that it takes Charlie almost to the moment he is about to marry Irene for her to speak up. There in his trailer full of strange spectators and finally a drunken but brave Waldo coming to Irene's rescue does Margit admit her love for Charlie before they are both knocked unconscious by the ensuing riot caused by the spectators.

The movie is full of the Loy and Powell chemistry complete with cutting barbs, innuendo, and just plain hilarious physical comedy. Loy and Powell never disappoint!

Tonight on TCM!

Bells Are Ringing (1960) An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients' lives.
Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark, Eddie Foy Jr. Dir: Vincente Minnelli

S & G: Why I love Powell and Loy

Broadway Bill (1934)

The story of Broadway Bill is one that could rival Seabiscuit who wouldn’t be well known until two years later. Dan Brooks (Warner Baxter) married into his job and though he was thankful at first and the envy of his other brothers-in-law as the crown prince of the J. L. Higgins enterprises, as of late he has been restless and horse-mad. He knows that Broadway Bill can be a champion and yearns to return to his former life on the race track. His father-in-law, J. L. Higgins (Walter Connolly) and wife Margaret (Helen Vinson) refuse to understand or empathize. His only allies are his stableman, Whitey (Clarence Muse) and his sister-in-law Alice aka The Princess (Myrna Loy).
Fed up with how J. L. runs his business, Dan strikes out on his own, leaving all security and money behind. In the course of trying to raise money to get Broadway Bill in the Imperial Derby, he and Whitey and eventually The Princess (who also happens to be in love with him) run into several road bumps along the way from Broadway Bill not wanting to race without his good luck charm, a rooster named Skeeter to Dan being thrown in jail to bad bets and sneaky jockeys.


In typical Capra fashion this is a story of success from the roots up and how people can inadvertently change the course of one another’s luck as well as inspire one another to be better people. With witty repartee and wonderful performances from all the characters- most especially Colonel Pettigrew (Raymond Walburn) and his sidekick Happy McGuire (Lynne Overman), Broadway Bill is a very touching story.

Tonight on TCM! This is a pretty good film featuring two of my favorites.
Sweet Bird Of Youth (1962)A young gigolo returns to his southern hometown in search of the lost love of his youth. Cast: Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley Dir: Richard Brooks

Happy 2010!!!

May your troubles and worries last as long as your New Years resolutions!

Christmas is coming...

Have you fed your reindeer?

Myrna has.

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