Sunday Movie Review: "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945) ❅

You see that snowflake up in the title bar? That snowflake means something exciting! It means the start to my Four Sundays of Christmas! :D

Christmas is my favorite holiday, and Christmastime is the very best time of the year for me. Shimmery presents under the tree, mountains of snow, Christmas carols lilting through the crisp winter air, warm winter clothes, and two weeks off of school - all of it has me bursting with the holiday spirit, and I adore it. 

Hand in hand with Christmas comes "movies," and not just because Christmas vacation allows me the opportunity to divulge in a movie nearly every night, but because there are so many awesome classic Christmas movies to watch! 

I think a great way to share with you my favorite Christmas movies would be to review one each week for my Sunday Movie Review. According to the calendar, there's a total of four Sundays in December, the last one being Christmas itself. On each of these Sundays, starting today, the 4th, I'll be sharing with you lovely classic Christmas films. The snowflake is my little emblem of approval. :)

Also, Sally over at the lovely Flying Down to Hollywood is hosting "12 Days of Christmas," which basically calls for twelve reviews of holiday films. I think she did this last year, but then again, I wasn't a blogger yet. ;) Anyhow, I snatched up a spot this year, and one of the films I will review for my Four Sundays of Christmas will also be a part of that blogathon. More on that when we come around to it!

Finally, I know I already have my little phonograph of songs for you on this blog, but with each post I'd like to include a classic Christmas carol to get you in the mood. So each Sunday this December, we'll have a classic movie and song, too!

This week's movie is "Christmas in Connecticut," (1945) with Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. This week's carol is from Judy Garland in the 1944 movie, "Meet Me in St. Louis". (Some people consider it a Christmas film; as much as I love the movie, I don't really think so, because only a portion of the movie takes place on Christmas - and besides, the St. Louis Fair came in the spring!) Anyway, I'll just shut up and let you enjoy Judy's glorious voice:

 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (1944) by the always lovely Judy Garland.

***

The post: Adorable and exciting, setting the mood for the actual film.

The plot:

In this welcome addition to the canon of mandatory yuletide viewing, Barbara Stanwyck plays Elizabeth Lane, a magazine columnist who touts herself as a blissful wife, mother and expert homemaker living on an idyllic Connecticut farm. Trouble is, it's all a lie. When her pudgy publisher (Sydney Greenstreet) cooks up a scheme to boost circulation by having Elizabeth entertain a war veteran (Dennis Morgan) on Christmas Eve, will her charade unravel? [from Netflix]

The starring players:

• Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth Lane
• Dennis Morgan as Jefferson Jones
• Sydney Greenstreet as Alexander Yardely 
• S.Z "Cuddles" Sakall as Felix Bassenak

The verdict:

4/5

To begin with, I absolutely adore this plot! I wouldn't call it a screwball comedy, but it certainly has many of the elements of one, beginning with the fact that it's based on a complete misunderstanding. It's heavy on the comedy but the romance is sweet and sincere, and the balance of both really complimented each other. Anyway, the plot itself swells with promise and it was done so satisfyingly right!

I tend to like Barbara Stanwyck best in comedies: "The Lady Eve," "Ball of Fire," and then there's this. I think she did dramas more often, but I always enjoy her the best in a nice romantic comedy like this. She's really quite perfect as Elizabeth Lane, who is forced to deal with this hilarious predicment she has gotten herself into. She also has good chemistry with the leading male, Dennis Morgan.

Which brings me to him: I honestly had never seen him anything before this movie. I hear he got his big break opposite Ginger in "Kitty Foyle," five years before this, but I haven't seen latter mentioned film (yet). Anyway, I did enjoy his performance in this, though I don't plan to add him to my all time favorites list; and he sings a very lovely song in this. As I mentioned before, he and Barbara do well together. Sydney Greenstreet plays the magazine publisher and he is nicely cast, if a little jollier then usual.

And that brings me to Cuddles Sakall, who is likely my favorite character actor ever. I love him in everything I see him in! He is always adorable and funny in that blubbering way of his, and he is a total scene stealer in this film. He plays a cook trying to master the English language and boy, is he a riot. He confuses several English phrases, for example, in one of my all time favorite screwball lines: "Hunky dunky," instead of "hunky dory." So now of course I say "hunky dunky" all the time.

Overall, I really adore this film. I love it for it's a hilarious holiday film. Holiday movies in general tend to be sappy, mushy, sweet, etc. and though there is certainly nothing wrong with those mentioned adjectives, especially for holiday films, it's nice to get a little change into your holiday lineup once in a while, which makes "Christmas in Connecticut" totally perfect.

This is also a real underrated film, one that perhaps slips under many people's radars, so I strongly encourage you to give it a watch this holiday season. It has a little bit of a slow start, but afterwards you're in for a treat. The main and supporting actors are excellent, the dialogue is witty and crackles with romantic intrigue, and overall it's a very satisfying, feel good comedy - a lovely combination of screwball meets romance meets holiday flick.

The bottom line:

This is a refreshing holiday film because it stands out from the sappier movies that are so common this time of the year. It might not actually be the most "Christmasy" film, but I still strongly suggest you give it a watch. You won't regret it; this isn't one to skip. So the bottom line is watch it!

Some photos:

[via]
Some trivia:

• The Connecticut home in this is the same set used for my favorite screwball comedy, "Bringing up Baby." (Now I totally want to live in this house).
• Elizabeth Lane was loosely based on a Family Circle magazine columnist by the name of Gladys Taber; however, while the film Elizabeth Lane was, to put it bluntly, a fraud (I mean that in the sweetest way), the real life Gladys Taber was the Martha Stewart of the 40's, and lived on an actual farm.

A movie tidbit:

Forget "a tidbit," I couldn't find any on Youtube besides the trailer - I instead, however, found the whole movie, and I'd rather post that. ;) 

***

That's the first Sunday in my little Christmas blogathon. I'm really into the holiday spirit - we put up the tree yesterday, and I'm all aglow. I can't believe it's really Christmastime again! (Yes, I do get like a little girl when it comes to Christmas).

Before I go, a few weeks ago I decided to take the plunge and make a Tumblr. There is a large Classic Hollywood Tumblr community, lovely sites with real beautiful photos and GIFs - and even though I'm really more of a words person than a photo person, I thought I'd give it a try. Since I'm so devoted to this blog which has the vast topic of all Classic Hollywood, I thought I'd be a lot more narrow with my Tumblr and make it solely about Lucy; a total tribute to her. If you'd like to visit it, go here, and feel free to follow me because I'm pretty sure I have like zilch followers.

I don't think I'm quite cut out for Tumblr, though! I'm terrible at making GIFs and the design of it confuzzles me for sure. Now I have so much more respect for people with such pretty, neat, Tumblrs and nicely edited pics and all of that, because all I can do, really, is reblog. ;) So don't fret over losing me to Tumblr anytime soon.

Isn't she the loveliest? Yes, Lucy, I do it all for you, dear!

[via]

PS: I do believe this is my 100th post!! ;D I wish I could have cooked up a more exciting way to celebrate instead of a little "PS" note, but oh well. I've nearly reached 50 followers, and when I get one more follower I think I have something in mind to help me celebrate both milestones! 

A Classic Hollywood Thanksgiving [In Emails]

Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for so many things: my family, my friends, the roof over my head, getting the chance to write all I want, all the people who have taken the time to read this blog... (that means YOU!)

One thing I'm also thankful for is Classic Hollywood. I mean it, too. What on Earth would I do without classic movies???

My first idea was to do a Thanksgiving post about Classic Hollywood having a Thanksgiving dinner together. Who would come, who would say what, etc., etc. But the more I thought about it it seemed awful hard so I decided to take a new approach. Basically, a bunch of movie stars met up at someone's house (not exactly sure, but it's pretty obvious Rita Hayworth did a lot of cooking and Bogie and Lauren Bacall helped out.. you'll see), and now they're reflecting back on it through emails. I guess I was kind of inspired by the "Tweets of Old Hollywood" thing that was published in the recent Vanity Fair (I think I left the link a few posts back).

This is what I put together. I honestly don't know what you'll make of it, but it was fun to write! :D

Also, they might be hard to read in the size presented to you here. So you can hover over the picture with your mouse, right click, and hit "open in new tab", and it should be big enough for you to read! I couldn't make them any bigger without it going into the sidebar. :)

Walter Pidgeon couldn't make it to the gathering (he had a bad cold), so Greer has sent him an email letting him know how things went.

Next, Lucy sent Ginger Rogers an email with a few photos she and Desi had taken at the event. (Ginger also attended, but her camera ran out of film, you see). By "LeeLee", she means Ginger's mother. 

Ingrid really enjoyed the mashed potatoes Cary brought to the gathering (it was kind of a potluck), so she traded recipes with him for her Swedish meatballs. Here he sends her the recipe.

Joan and Bette got into a spat, of course. Barbara Stanwyck, Joan's best friend, helped break it up and here Joan thanks her for it.

Here Bette relays her side of the story, with a little gossip on the side, to best friend Olivia de Havilland.

And lastly, Spencer shoots Kate an email asking her how Thanksgiving went. He was busy shooting a film and couldn't come, but they can't be seen together in public anyway.

***

I don't know. It was fun to write! Have a happy Thanksgiving! :)

Sunday Movie Review: 5 Mini Reviews

I have watched so many movies in the past week or so, that I couldn't decide on just one to do for this Sunday's SMR. Therefore, I have decided to do something I've seen Sophie and Clara do. It's basically 5 mini reviews, and well, yeah, it's just like it sounds. I don't plan on doing this often, at least not for SMRs. But this week I couldn't help myself, so I hope you don't mind. And, oh, I did chose "Random Harvest" for my header because that's probably the most well known among the films here. (Most of them are Greer films, a la my current obsession).

With the exception of one of these movies, you can see all of these films online for Free! Clicking the poster (there is a reminder underneath) should take you to the links to watch it if you're interested.

Desire Me 

(1947, no director's credit)

[this whole movie is on Youtube, so you can hit the poster to watch it!]

Summary: Shortly after WWII, flashbacks tell the story of Marise (Greer Garson), her husband Paul (Robert Mitchum), and Jean (Richard Hart), who was imprisoned with Paul in a German camp. While attempting to escape from the camp Paul is shot, and Jean goes to see Marise, confirming the news she had gotten already about Paul's death. Jean has fallen in love with Marise through the stories Paul told him, and wants to stay with her in the seaside town in Brittany where Paul owned a small business. [from IMdb - with slight doctoring by me]

Verdict: I actually think this plot has a lot of potential. Kind of like My Favorite Wife, except in a reverse and much more dramatic. MUCH more. Anyway, it's obviously got a good ensemble cast, too. My problem with this is the way the plot is depicted did not do justice to the story. Marise and Jean "fall in love" within a week despite the fact Marise had just been confirmed of her husband's death. [SPOILER: Paul turns out not to be dead after all, and when he returns we cannot be satisfied by his reunion with Marise at all, because there was not enough background on the two for us to understand their love for one another, despite the fact that the script tries to make it obvious that these two were madly in love before he set off for war.]. It's all a big flashback and the pairing of Mitchum and Greer are not utilized at all; they have, perhaps, five minutes of screen time together. Richard Hart's character was a big, fat annoying jerk. Entertaining albeit all but this film was worked on by four directors - one of them being George Cukor - and none of them wanted their name on this, so that ought to give you a hint! It is said one of these directors made Greer do 125 takes of the single word, "No!" - at which Robert Mitchum rolled his eyes and could no longer take Hollywood seriously. Uh, well, it's entertaining none the less - though sometimes at it's own expense.

2.5 / 5

Random Harvest

(1942, Meryvn LeRoy)

[this whole movie is on Youtube, so you can hit the poster to watch it!]

Summary: Wounded World War I soldier Charles (Ronald Colman) has no memory of his past, and when he meets Paula (Greer Garson), he's certain she's the one for him. They marry, but Charles is hit by a car, regains his memory of his life before Paula, and loses all memory of Paula. He returns to his wealthy relatives, and a desperate Paula takes a job as his secretary to be near him in this tragic romantic drama. [from Netflix]

Verdict: Like most everybody, I ADORED this film... and it made me love Greer even more, if it's possible. There really isn't much to say except it's just a wonderfully sweet film whilst still being so entertaining, too. Greer is just wonderful as the beautiful showgirl who takes Charles under her wing and cares for him so. A real sweetheart of a character without being too sappy (so of course, Greer is perfect to play it). And Ronald Colman (by the way, he looks like Clark Gable's twin at times for sure!) as Charles (or "Smithie", for those of you who have seen the movie ;D) - well, he's pretty much adorable, most of the time anyway. I thought he played the part quite well because you must admit, it's certainly a hard one to play. This movie is heartbreaking, glorious, entertaining, but the ending is so satisfying, above all. I strongly encourage you see it; and there isn't really much more left to say. (Except you must see it, seriously!) OH! And go right this instant and watch Greer being fantastically entertaining and adorable in her rendition of the Scottish song "She's Ma Daisy." Seriously, if you haven't fallen in love with Greer yet you will after seeing it. ADORED her and it. (You don't know how long I was going, "She's my daisy!! - My bonny daisy!!" to myself after that... :D).

5/5

Scandal at Scourie

(1953, Jean Negulesco) 

[this whole movie is on Youtube, so you can hit the poster to watch it!]

Summary: The big hearted Victoria McChesney (Greer Garson) meets a little orphan named Patsy by chance, but the two quickly become inseparable. Victoria adopts her and takes her home to husband Patrick (Walter Pidgeon), despite the fact that the McChesneys are Protestants and Patsy Catholic. This causes scandal in the town and puts strains on Patrick, who is trying to run for a position in the town government. This MGM vehicle is set in the 1890s small town of Scourie in French Canada.

Verdict: I actually quite enjoyed this. This film is based around religion so steer clear if you don't like "those" type of movies. I thought it was really sweet and gosh, Greer was wonderful as the gutsy Victoria. (There is actually a scene in here where she marches into a barber shop, red hair flaring, and beats a man with a wet towel - several times - and douses him oil. She then goes home and breaks the news to Patrick in the most adorable way. That scene alone is worth watching the movie!). And I liked Walter too as her husband, and the little girl who played Patsy was adorable. The Technicolor is gorgeous and this beautiful small town of Scourie comes alive excitedly. Plot is perhaps a little dated in some people's eyes, but I had no problems with this and I liked it. Agnes Moorehead makes in appearance as a nun (Sister Josephine), as well! I also think this was the last movie from the famous pairing of Greer and Walter, so if you're a fan of them certainly see it for that reason alone.

4/5

When Ladies Meet

(1941, Robert Z. Leonard)

[you can hit the poster to watch a tidbit of this movie - the whole movie is on Youtube, but you have to pay to see it :( ]

Summary: Mary (Joan Crawford), a writer working on a novel about a love triangle, is attracted to her publisher, Rogers (Herbert Marshall). Her suitor Jimmy (Robert Taylor) is determined to break them up; he introduces Mary to the publisher's wife, Claire (Greer Garson), without telling Mary who she is - and the two land up liking each other. [from IMdb - with slight doctoring by me]

Verdict: Anyone would get excited to see this film just by checking out that cast! Okay, so I won't call this movie disappointing because by golly it's entertaining. That is for sure. This movie actually had me gasping outloud and going, "Ohhh" because I knew something explosive was going to happen at points. ;) I mean, it's one of those ironic films that can be somewhat frustrating (appropriately so) because you know what's going on and you desperately need the characters to know as they sit there, having nonchalant conversations that are yet so ironic! (If that makes sense). My one issue though was Herbert Marshall. I just didn't like him :( He seemed quite cardboard, and it helped that I hated his character of course. Joan Crawford is good, nothing exactly special - this will sound biased because of the Greer crazy stage I am at currently that I did think that Greer shone brighter BUT this is not to say Joan was bad or anything. And to be fair, Joan and Greer's acting styles are completely different, but that makes it fun to watch. As for Robert Taylor, this was my first movie of his and I really liked him, so I'm certainly going to see more. Back to the plot, though: Another problem was this was the abrupt ending, I HATED it. Had it been done neatly, it may have been able to salvage this film for four stars. A merge between a screwball comedy and a drama, this is worth seeing to see Greer and Joan "meet" but far from being  an excellent film.

3/5 

Ball of Fire

(1941, Howard Hawks)

[this time I'm linking to the lovely Film Classics.com website, where the full movie is uploaded]

Summary: Gary Cooper plays a serious but lovable English professor working with his colleagues on a dictionary of American slang. When a red-hot nightclub singer (Barbara Stanwyck) on the run from the mob takes refuge in their house, she also finds a place in their hearts. But where there's a ball of fire there's bound to be trouble, and before they know it, the professor and his cohorts are learning a lot about language -- and life. Howard Hawks directs. [from Netflix]

Verdict: This has also got a really great cast. Besides Coop and Stany, you've got some of my character actor favorites among the "seven dwarfs" (AKA, Gary's professor colleagues), like S.Z "Cuddles" Sakall (I simply ADORE him and get excited whenever his name runs through the opening credits of a film), Henry Travers (who was Clarence in one of my favorite films, "It's a Wonderful Life"), and Richard Haydn (Max in another favorite: "The Sound of Music"). To top it off, Dana Andrews playing a mobster. ;) I really enjoyed this movie and I learned a lot of 40's slang, so I wish I'd seen it before I'd written my vintage vocabulary post last month. Gary Cooper was adorable and loveable as the nerdy professor ("I love him because he doesn't know how to kiss," Stany explains) and Barbara Stanwyck a lot of fun as Sugarpuss O'Shea. I know Lucy wanted this role really badly, and I of course would have loved to have seen her play it, BUT this is not staying Barbara was bad because she wasn't. She was really good. (Only you know the nutsy Lucy fan I am, I wish she was in everything (; ). Anyway, this was a fun screwball comedy directed by one of the masters of the genre, Howard Hawks (he needs no referencing, but "Bringing up Baby", for starters). I suggest you watch it, a daffy little modern take on Snow White and the seven drawfs. :) Also, watch it for the adorable "yum yum" scene with Stany and Coop. :)

4/5 

***

This post actually took me a lot longer to write then I thought it would! -;) But I had fun writing it and was kind of surprised with the variation of ratings I gave the films. Anyhow, I'm sorry I didn't just review one film but I hope you were able to get my opinions on all five anyway and enjoyed reading. Like I said, I don't exactly plan to make a habit of doing these mini reviews for the SMR, but for this Sunday I had to make allowances.

By the away, a quick plug for the blogathon Bette at Bette's Classic Movie Blog is hosting: it's called Mustaches for Movember, and the subject is basically to write anything pertaining to classic movies and mustaches. A strange topic, but it's in honor of this program called Movember which raises awareness each November for men cancers. Bette can explain it better than I can (in fact, I probably confused you) so go take a stroll over to her blog and be sure and sign up - if you write a blog, that is! ;)

Also a plug for myself: again, if you haven't voted in the Rebel Without a Cause vs. West Side Story poll, please do as we're tied currently with three votes each. If you care to break that tie, scroll up to my sidebar and vote for the better film (in your opinion)! Poll will end in four days.

One quick last note: Thank you for 40 + followers and to the rest of you that read my blog through other subscriptions :) My followers gadget is slightly screwing up at times, I think for the moment it's alright, but I am trying to fix some problems it may have with not displaying all of my followers. 

That's it, so have a great start into the week, everyone!

Fashion In Film || Paper to Reality: Edith Head Defining an Era

This here is my little contribution to the Fashion in Film Blogathon that is being hosted by Angela at The Hollywood Revue - thank you for holding this, Angela! It's going to be exciting to see all the other posts, to read them, maybe even discover new blogs. Yes, blogathons are a ton of fun. And I know a bunch of my favorite blogs are participating in the event, so this will be a real treat!

This was a vast topic to cover, and in the end I came up with this post. A shroud of my thoughts on two topics I love: fashion and movies. Put together, I think they equal "Classic Hollywood."

Let's face it: Among one of the many things modern movies lack is fashion. Oh, sure, there are some pretty dresses and nice ensembles here and there, but you're just as likely to find the main character stretched out on the couch in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a t-shirt.

Classic Hollywood was different, though. And to be fair, the times were completely different. It wasn't acceptable to be walking around in baggy sweatpants then in the way it is today; in the 40s and 50s one had to look put together and neat upon going out - or even being around the house. Today, sweatpants (sorry to keep picking on this piece of attire for you sweatpants lovers!) add realism to a film just in the way that chic costuming did in Classic Hollywood.

My favorite designer of this era - and this may be deemed the default answer - would be Edith Head. She was a genius and probably dressed every leading woman in Hollywood at least once.

"Edie knew the truth about all of us. She knew who had flat fannies and who didn't -- but she never told."

- LUCILLE BALL

Edith knew how to dress a woman exactly according to her figure. As Lucy's words explain, Edith knew how to conceal imperfections by making it work to an actress's advantage or instead spotlighting her other assets. Marlene Dietrich was not very busty at all, but she had long legs and Edith understood this and pulled out the stops. Audrey Hepburn had a spindly neck, legs, and arms; Edith concealed this by staying away from short sleeves, full dresses, jewels on her neck. She could fix anything -- was Veronica Lake's neck too thin, Loretta Young's too long? Bette Davis pulled a "diva" to get Edith for All About Eve and it is said Joan Crawford would not buy a pair of socks without Edith's consent.

The woman had power.

She won Oscars for it, a proud collection of golden men. She took complete pride and credit in her work. Some actresses loved her and others butted heads with her, but each one became grateful to her in the end. Sometimes she was a snob. In 1955 she brought home the Oscar for "Sabrina" -- yet 90 percent of the film's costumes came hand selected by Audrey Hepburn from Givenchy, Audrey's favorite designer. Edith did not speak of Givenchy once in accepting her award.

Still, this was only a rare occasion in which Edith's success was downplayed. She could turn out genius things, she made every women in Classic Hollywood a fashion icon in her own right. Her favorite protegee was said to have been Grace Kelly, but she could fit any figure, from skinny (Audrey Hepburn) to curvy (Sophia Loren).

Edith was tops, but there were other designers. Helen Rose was of her own prestige and designed Grace Kelly's wedding gown; Adrian was on a first name basis and designed for "The Wizard of Oz."

Together, these designers and all the little people created a definitive era of fashion in movie making. The makeup was never smudged, a hair never out of place, and her outfit? It was always superb. 

They were all wonderful, but today and for this particular blogathon, I think I'll stop and spotlight Edith.

From Paper to Reality

It seems that for almost every actress of Classic Hollywood, combine her name with "Edith Head" on Google and you come across an gorgeous treasure trunk of sketches. Some dresses we know so well; others not so familiar but beautiful. The following is a tribute to Edith Head. If I could find a picture of the actual actress wearing the sketched dress, it appears alongside the photo. 

Sketched: A pale, blue chiffon dream for "To Catch a Thief"

Pictured: Grace Kelly in the finished product. 

Sketched: A chic and modest brown gown for All About Eve

Pictured: Bette Davis shows off the Edith Head creation

Sketched: A gorgeous and elegant black dress for "Sabrina."

Pictured: Audrey Hepburn brings it to life.

Sketched: One of my personal favorite dresses, a simply elegant number for "Rear Window"

Pictured: Grace Kelly showing off her dress to an uninterested Jimmy Stewart from a vivid Technicolor frame

Sketched: The outfit sketched must have been something for Joan Crawford to wear on her day off, as it appears that Edith Head never did design for Joan in a movie -- yet off screen, Joan relied on her totally. Hmm. If only we had a "Pictured" for this one!

Sketched: A slinky, shimmery black ensemble for "The Lady Eve"

Pictured: Barbara Stanwyck, who adored her, showing off the dress. It seems to have captured Henry Fonda's rapt attention!

Sketched: A delicately glamorous gown for "A Place in the Sun"

Pictured: Elizabeth Taylor is the lucky girl who gets to wear this creation.

Sketched: An ornate, fabulous period piece for "The Heiress"

Pictured: Olivia de Havilland flaunting it in said film!

Sketched: For Katharine Hepburn... I am not sure what film this is. If I were to take a guess, I would say "Little Women."

Sketched: A Cinderella style dress for "Inside Daisy Clover"

Pictured: Star Natalie Wood in the end product.

Sketched: Another design for Natalie Wood, this time for "Love With the Proper Stranger"

Sketched: A simpler, peasant girl style dress for Sophia Loren in "Houseboat"

And, now, of course, for my personal favorites....

Sketched: A chic outfit for Lucille Ball in "The Facts of Life"

Sketched: Also for "The Facts of Life", another gorgeous ensemble for Lucy

Sketched: Peach, beige chiffon for "The Facts of Life" and Lucy once more!

Sketched: Edith would even design for Lucy on "The Lucy Show"

***

Okay, so, perhaps I got a little carried away with the pictures there. But each time I found a new sketch I had  got more excited and just had to post it. ;) Also, I thought it was so interesting to see how each sketch seemed to be a near perfect definition of the actress's likeness as well as captured her personality and the personality of the dress -- I do not think Edith was the actual artist of the sketches (correct me if I am wrong),  but I found it quite interesting anyhow. But Edith was amazing, for sure.

That's all for me - though that was quite a lot of "all"! Once again tons of thanks to Angela for hosting this, and be sure and go over to The Hollywood Revue and check out the wonderful blogs. And comment with what you think!

PS: Edith Head is so fabulous, I think I'll just go ahead and make a tag for her on my blog. ;)

Sunday Movie Review: "East Side, West Side" (1949)

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone had a good weekend! I had a great one; spent time with my friends (even got them to watch "Gone With the Wind"; I think there were mixed reactions) and even better, the weather has gotten chilly over here! In fact, it was so cold yesterday I wore boots, a sweater, and even gloves. Not exaggerating! Fall starts this week and I'm happy in my chilly element more than ever. I plan to savor winter. (And I don't feel so crazy anymore in doing so ever since some of you commented and let me know that you too love winter).

Before I do my review of "East Side, West Side", I will be revealing the faces behind this Here's Looking At You Kid that I should have done quite a while ago, only it indeed slipped my mind. Many apologizes!

Anyhow, thank you everyone who participated! I got some wonderful guesses. It appears that everyone happened to get the lady's face right -- it is indeed, the lovely Olivia de Havilland:

As for the man, I got a few of you who guessed it was either Robert Taylor or Gary Cooper. And the rest of you guessed Robert Taylor. Well, as it turns out, it is --

It's Coop!

***

Today, I have pulled the summary from IMDb because I felt the Netflix summary gave too many spoilers.

Brandon and Jessie Bourne has been married to each other for many years. A few years ago, Brandon had an extra-martial affair with Isabel Lorrison. Now she has come back to New York intending to start over with the relationship once again. Meanwhile, Jessie is attracted to Mark Dwyer, just arrived from a secret mission in Italy. [summary from IMDb]

The star-studded cast has:

• Barbara Stanwyck as Jessie Bourne
• James Mason as Brandon "Brad" Bourne
• Ava Gardner as Isabel Lorrison
• Van Heflin as Mark Dwyer
• Cyd Charisse as Rosa Senta
• Nancy Davis as Helen Lee
• William Frawley as a bartender (!!)

Can you count all the stars? I was excited by the large number of big names in this. I hope everyone is familiar with Nancy Davis, who would later marry Ronald Reagan and become First Lady of the US, as well as William Frawley - who is our own Fred Mertz from "I Love Lucy."

I must say, I did find the plot to be a little far fetched. But if you can ignore some of the bumps and creases of it, I think it gives us a nicely polished view of elite 1940's Manhattan and the politics that its residents suffer through: romance, drama, murder.

Stany is really appealing as Jessie Pearce and I enjoyed her performance. She represents the sophisticated East Side woman in great contrast to Van Heflin's Mark, who is West Side, and yet they get along better and sparkle with more chemistry than Jessie and her own husband, Brad. Anyway, I think she does an excellent job and you can feel Jessie's many mixed feelings; her heartbreak, the fact that she does love her husband, but she cannot stand any longer what he is doing to her. Hard to play but Barbara is very good. 

Van Heflin does quite well with the Mark character; he and Stany have nice chemistry. At first I found Ava Gardner's "other woman" portrayal to be somewhat stereotypical but as the film progresses on, she cleans her up act even when she is given some pretty sorry lines to deal with. She is sultry above all, which is a necessity for her notorious character. In the end I found I liked how Ava played her and wished that her character would have been given more lines and camera time to work with. Anyhow, Ava does try her best with what she is given. I think she is at her very best in this scene --

All the supporting characters are wonderful. Nancy Davis sparkles as the nosy friend, Cyd is good as the nice Italian girl; William Frawley is only a bartender, of course, but a cheer for him, anyway.

Now it comes to James Mason. To begin with he is a character we do not like. We feel sympathy for Stany's Jessie, we are excited that Van Heflin is there to lend a shoulder for her to cry on, we don't like Ava's character either but we do get where she is coming from, and we are charmed by Cyd's Rosa. I found I didn't like James Mason's way of playing the Brad character at all. He fades, pales, to the selection of other actors he is playing against. He seems kind of out there; very one dimensional and no chemistry whatsoever with Ava. He is plain, like cardboard, just standing there; he lets the others carry on the film.

So with that exception, this is a very well acted and interesting film. I just had many problems with this plot, though. It was kind of all over the place in my opinion. Here are the "bumps and creases" I found -- the Rosa character gets dropped quite fast, the mystery element was solved too easily (there is a mystery element indeed, and I was shocked by the simple way it is solved. I am used to Nick and Nora Charles, thank you very much), there were just some holes and it made it look a little sloppy.

The script is for the most part intelligent, though I did find some stupid exchanges, for example one scene where Isabel calls Jessie over to her apartment and starts rattling off about how Brad is all hers and Jessie, his wife, will only see him when Isabel permits and excreta. I found that a little too silly.

The ending is left open ended. Though mostly satisfying, it leaves a lot to the imagination. I guess we can't have it all.

Over all I found this film to be entertaining and interesting. The cast does a magnificent job (James excluded; I'm sorry, Mr. Mason!), and the weaknesses fall instead in the plot and script. I will have to give it a three and a half out of five stars. I would say to go ahead and watch it, too, only, it is not a perfect film.

***

Before I leave --

Happy birthday, Greta! Wow, how many birthdays did we celebrate this week?? Hmm..!