Auld Lang Syne

Hi everyone! I just wanted to write a more personal blog sharing some of my recent adventures in classic film that didn't take place on the silver screen. :D

What I got for Christmas. Since my lovely family knows me so well I got a bunch of Classic Hollywood things for Christmas, so I thought I'd share! By the way, this is in no way bragging. What I was most thankful for on Christmas was to my have my family with me. (It's a cliche but true). Anyways, here's what I got!

• [BOOK] Carole Lombard: The Hoosier Tornado
• [BOOK] Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited
• [BOOK] Ingrid: A Personal Biography
• [BOOK] A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson
• [BOOK] Laughs, Luck, and Lucy
• [BOX SET] Tracy & Hepburn: The Definitive Collection
• [MOVIE] The Valley of Decision (1945)
• [MOVIE] Julia Misbehaves (1948)
• [MOVIE] Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993)

The Tracy & Hepburn boxset, which was in my holiday gift guide, is wonderful. It was at a really really good price on Amazon - $17!!! - and it contains all nine films, plus a tenth disc: The Spencer Tracy Legacy, narrated by Kate. I was so excited when I saw it. I just adore it. It's so beautifully put together and I really recommend it.

I'm currently reading the Greer Garson biography, I'm not all that far in but I think it's going to be good and I'm excited to learn more about Greer. I was thrilled when I saw Julia Misbehaves of course, because I've been wanting to see it since - well, since I became Greer obsessed (which was maybe a little over a month ago), BUT I'm quite an impatient person. Anyways, I saw it the other day and I just LOVED it. I plan to do a review for it soon. I haven't seen The Valley of Decision yet but I want to before my break finishes.

Then there's Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie - at three and a half hours long, it's just about as long as Gone with the Wind, which makes me really happy! The longer the better! I started it the other night and haven't finished it yet but so far I just love it. It's turning out to be all I expected and then some. I can't wait to watch the rest of it!

I also got one more vintage thing for Christmas, and honestly it's probably one of the best presents I've ever received. It's:

A vintage telephone! The candlestick type, like in His Girl Friday! I love it to pieces!! It even has a vintage ringing sound, and it clashes with the more modern shrill of the other phones in the house, but whatever. Listening to it is music to my ears - I actually came this close to recording its ring for you all but I was too lazy. ;) Anyhow, I'm one of those rare teenagers who doesn't talk on the phone all that much but now I'm using every possible excuse to make a call! Even if it's just to order Chinese takeout I'm getting a kick out of my vintage phone! :)

On Christmas Day, we had dinner at my aunt and uncle's house, and Classic Hollywood filtered into the conversation several times. My uncle is a HUGE Jimmy Stewart fan and he has his autograph. He got it when he met Jimmy in the 90's, it was at a local signing at a bookstore. My uncle had to wait in line for a really long time and when he got up there he told Jimmy how he was his favorite actor of all time. Jimmy was pretty old by then, and all he could manage really was a friendly grunt to my uncle, but it made my uncle happy anyway. He claims that he didn't grunt at anyone else and so it was a big deal. ;) Can you imagine, getting to meet a Classic Hollywood star in person? Well, a girl can dream.

The Artist (2011). It was a long time coming, but I finally was able to see The Artist (2011). I went with my dad and I was the only young person in the theater but that was okay.

I have been anticipating seeing this film since I first heard about it back in September. And it was worth the wait - this didn't disappoint! It was one of the best moderns I've seen in a long while. Elements of this film reminded me a lot of Singin in the Rain (1952) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), and the final dance sequence seemed to be a Fred and Ginger homage. But it was original enough to still be good and I had a lot of fun watching it. It was even filmed in the vintage 35 mm, and the print even contained the good old burst of double black dots, signaling the time to change the reel.

The actors were very good, too. Something I often find when watching moderns that take place in the 20's, 30's, 40's, etc. is that the actors simply don't appear to look vintage, more like modern actors playing dress up. This film, however, definitely did not have that problem. The main actor looked a lot like Gene Kelly and though the actress was not as spot on, she did make a convincing flapper type.

Speaking of the actors, both of them did a good job working without sound. My favorite character, actor, whatever of all though was definitely Uggie, the faithful dog. He's nominated for some canine awards I believe, and he should carry them all. He was wonderful.

So the bottom line is I really suggest you go out and watch this film.

I Love Lucy exhibit [and then some]. This was a local tribute to the "American dream" show, and it's been up since August but I didn't get to see it until Wednesday! I decided to take my camera so I could take photos, but I really pulled a Lucy: I put the battery in for charging and grabbed my camera, but it wasn't until I got there that I realize I'd forgotten to put the battery back. >.< Yeah, I know, quite smart. Anyway, I had to take photos with my cell phone camera then, so I'm sorry if they're blurry. Also, I didn't take too many photos because no one else was and I didn't want to look weird. :D

It was small, actually, and it wasn't exactly filled with novelties but I enjoyed it anyway. It was mostly a lot of pictures (that I'd seen before - "That's amateur stuff," I scoffed), newspaper articles from the time, and one or two script pages. It was nicely put together though and it's always fun to see a tribute to the classics.

There was a small module displaying clips from different episodes, and most people were crowded around there. It was fun to listen to bits and pieces of their conversations and correct them in my head: for example, one person wondered aloud if "enceinte" (in reference to the title of the episode in which Lucy tells Ricky she's pregnant), was the Spanish word for pregnant. It's actually the French word.  Another person knowingly rattled off that Lucy had children at the age of 40 and 42, which was "quite unpopular at the time," but technically, that's wrong, too. Lucy was 39 when she had Lucie and 41 upon having Desi, Jr. But, hey, not everyone can be a Lucy fanatic. :)

Here's the photos I took:

A display of articles about the show, circa 1957. 

One of the script pages that was framed and displayed. This one is from "The Great Train Robbery", 1956.

Since this exhibit was so small and we had time to kill afterwards, we checked out this thing called "The Bob Hope Gallery." This was bigger and a lot of fun. There was a sign asking for no photography so I took no pictures, but it was basically many photos, articles, newsreels, etc. about Bob poking fun at politics, being a Yankee during World War 2, and the like. Also included in these were other celebrities like Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Robert Taylor, and many more. It was great fun and I enjoyed seeing the looks on adults' faces as I pointed out Claudette Colbert in a photo of a bond tour to my dad. There was also some things about McCarthyism.

We also stepped by "The Gershwin Gallery," which contained George Gershwin's piano and typewriter among other things. There was a lot of Fred and Ginger in this exhibit, mostly "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" from Swing Time (1936), which is one of my favorite Fred and Ginger sequences.

It was fun to see all of this, I just love seeing Classic Hollywood in public places!

***

Well, that's what I've been doing over my break. And since today is New Year's Eve, this is my last official post of 2011. I thought of doing a end of the year wrap up post like many other blogs are doing, but the thing is, I've technically been only blogging for half a year, this blog started in July, and therefore... maybe we can try an end of the year wrap up thing next year! As for now: A big thank you to all of you that have read this blog this year. I appreciate it so much and I'll see you all in 2012! Keep reading and have a Happy New Year's! ♥

I'll leave you with the traditional New Year's song, sure to be found in 95% of New Year's scenes in movies, old or new -

NOTE: Tomorrow being New Year's Day, I'm using that as a valid excuse to skip the Sunday Movie Review. It'll be be back the following Sunday, January the 8th, with the first review of 2012!

Merry Xmas! [Part 1]: A Classic Hollywood Christmas

Okay, if you read my post for the Bogie blogathon earlier today, you'll know how I screwed up the blogging schedule I've quite carefully figured out for this week (with two blogathons, several birthdays, and CHRISTMAS). I really wanted to follow up with the post I'd planned for today, Christmas Eve, so I'm going to go ahead and write it anyway, despite the fact I'll be showing up twice in your feed today (at least, in my time zone). Apologies once more (I don't like to overhaul people with posts, lol).

All December I have been spotlighting my favorite Christmas films as a part of my Sunday Movie Review. Tomorrow is a Sunday, and is also happens to be Christmas Day, and therefore I'll be following up with my little Christmas blogathon by reviewing my favorite Christmas movie of all time.

However, in pledging myself to do this I realized I'd be missing out on some of the other Classic Hollywood/Christmas stuff there is to talk about, and so I decided to do a two part post. This is the first part, and the second part will be tomorrow, which will consist of my movie review.

For this first part I present to you all a list of ten random, Classic Hollywood Christmas things I felt compelled to share with you all.

10 Things That are Classic Hollywood and Christmas

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AVA

Ava and one of her pet corgis wishing you a merry Christmas! Ava is one of my favorite actresses and I like her despite her faults because over all, she was still an awesome person. And she had good values about particular things, like she was ahead of her time when it came to racism: she didn't believe in it. But anyway, the point is that today, Christmas Eve, is her birthday! I read in her biography that it was a ritual on the 24th for two cakes to be baked: one chocolate and one coconut. One was supposed to be for the baby Jesus and the other for her but she always thought of them both for her. Anyway, any person born on Christmas Eve must be awesome, and Ava was. Happy birthday, Ava!

2. I LOVE LUCY: CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

I'm sorry, I could only find the colorized version (yuck!) on Youtube. However, this is a flashback episode and the flashbacks are still in B&W, I believe. Anyhow, try to ignore the colorization and enjoy this. It's a "walk down memory lane" episode for the Ricardos and Mertzes, and it takes place on Christmas Eve so I guess it's particularly appropriate for today. This episode isn't run in syndication with all the others, so if you watch Lucy on TV (versus online or on DVD) you might haven't gotten the chance to see this yet.

3. THE DONNA REED SHOW: A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

I just watched this the other day, I'd never seen an episode of the Donna Reed Show before. I liked and it so I'm sharing it! It was a little mushy but mush never hurts anyone in the holiday season [expect perhaps the Grinch and Scrooge]. Plus, this show's got Donna Reed, who should be the queen of holiday mush as she starred in The Best Christmas Movie of All Time (can you just guess what movie I'll be talking about tomorrow). I like her a lot, I think she's an underrated actress. (Donna Reed, I mean.)

4. GREER AND AN ADORABLE LITTLE BOY WISH YOU HAPPY HOLIDAYS

[via]

I would SO much rather get this in my mailbox instead of the usual tacky Christmas cards (just saying). The GIF (which isn't mine, you know where to click, yep, that's right, the "via" link, because that Tumblr is pretty awesome) is from "Blossoms in the Dust". (A Greer and Walter movie, I saw it but never did a review of it. It's good, though, so watch it! Albeit, not a Christmas film, it only has a Christmas scene in it, just so you know.)

5.  CHRISTMAS PIN-UPS

So many awesome Classic Hollywood Christmas related pin-ups! This is a handful of so many. From left to right: Paulette Goddard opening presents, Elizabeth Taylor showing off her kitten and wishing us a happy holiday, Mary Pickford changing the street sign from "Hollywood" to "Santa Claus Lane", Ginger Rogers fooling around with the Christmas tree, Doris Day boasting the presents she's got, Carole Lombard admiring her presents, Natalie Wood smiling through her adorned wreath, Audrey Hepburn hugging Santa Claus, and Lucy and Desi bashfully exchanging gifts with one another. :) 

6. CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST


"The Little Drummer Boy" by Bing Crosby

"Silent Night" by Lena Horne 

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Doris Day

"We Three Kings (of Orient are)" by Ella Fitzgerald

Some Christmas carols I love. I know I've been adding a Christmas carol with each movie review, but these are a few that I like that I didn't get the chance to share!

7. SUSPENSE RADIO: TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

"Twas the night before Christmas..." Christmas Eve with a mysterious twist! Greer Garson stars in this Suspense Radio Theater production that was broadcast on December 21st, 1953. A suspenseful take

on one of the most cheerful holidays of the year! 

8.  I ♥ ASTA ORNAMENT

I made this myself. Honestly, who WOULDN'T want this ornament. Seriously,  if this were a real item it would totally have been in my holiday gift guide. Because who DOESN'T love Asta, I tell you. [Lassie?? Pfffhtttt].

9. LUCY: SANTA LUCIA

"I squinted up into the blazing sun and saw a figure hovering over me dressed all in black with a Santa mask and beard and rolled up orange hair. "Santa Lucia!" I cried out."

- I LOVED LUCY by Lee Tannen

* did you ever see a more beautiful Santa? *

10.  THE MOVIES I MISSED

I decided to share with you my favorite Christmas films this December, and I only had four Sundays, which meant only four movies. I had to leave out a few that I love. Here are clips from them --

THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER (1940)

Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan 

THE THIN MAN (1934)

Myrna Loy, William Powell

HOLIDAY (1938) [New Years]

Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant 

***

The second part of this post will be up tomorrow [the movie review]. Now, I'm off to enjoy "It's a Wonderful Life" (I always watch it on Christmas Eve! ;D).

But in advance: Merry Merry Christmas, my readers - or whatever holiday you're celebrating this time of year!

Dueling Divas || Greer vs. Joan ["When Ladies Meet"]

I'm here to write a post for Backlots's "Dueling Divas Blogathon," but first, guys... THANK YOU!!! Over the past two days I have not only reached fifty followers, I've exceeded it. Honestly, you people, I can't thank you enough! Like, every one of you that follow me! I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm overreacting - but I'm thinking back to when no one followed me, and there were no comments, and it was just loneliness, and now I get awesome comments from all of you like everyday, and for me it's really really supportive. <3 So thanks soo  much for following me, I'm really Vivien Leigh cat smiling, and in my appreciation here's a GIF of Greer smiling as large as I am now:

[via]

Thank you so, so, much all of you! And now, onto the blogathon [but THANK YOU AGAIN!]:

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A quick warning: There may be a few spoilers in this, but I'll give you a great fair warning when they're on the way. Apologizes!

About a month ago, I wrote a review for a 1941 MGM vehicle, "When Ladies Meet," starring Joan Crawford, Robert Taylor, and one of my newest favorite actresses, Greer Garson. In my review I gave this film three out of five stars, and you can check out the review to read more about what I thought of the actual movie. For this blogathon, I'm going to focus on the rivalry between Greer and Joan's characters in this movie - though the irony of it is, at times they don't really act like rivals at all. Here's the plot, supplied by IMdb [with some slight doctoring by yours truly]:

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. 

In this first ring we have --

[via]

Claire Woodruff. [Greer Garson]. Beautiful redheaded wife of book publisher Rogers Woodruff [Herbert Marshall]. Bright personality and a little bit of a social butterfly. An elegant dresser and a fan of color blocking. She is an expert sailor and knows everything there is about boats and the like. She does hurt inside over her husband's numerous, obvious infidelities, but it's hard to tell by her bubbly, bright personality.  

And then over in the other ring, we have --

[I actually made this one, that's why it's so awful. ';)]

Mary Howard. [Joan Crawford]. Sometimes called Minnie by friends. A liberally thinking best selling novelist who is appreciative of new thinking and ideas. [Her latest novel happens to be about a love triangle.] Adored by suitor Jimmy [Robert Taylor] but madly in love with her new publisher, Rogers. He's married - but it doesn't matter... sort of. Interesting dresser and lover of big spectacle glasses that make her eyes look even bigger [if that's possible.]

Now that we've got our characters straight, the plot consists of a love triangle between these two beautiful ladies and Herbert Marshall - with Robert Taylor pulling the strings. His character, Jimmy, meets Claire at a party the same night Mary and Rogers are having a romantic dinner at home. He decides to have Claire and Mary meet, hence the title of this film, in hopes of breaking up Mary and Rogers's relationship. However, when he introduces the two to each other, he tricks Claire into pretending to be someone else, and therefore Mary doesn't know that the girl she is so quickly becoming friends with is actually her lover's wife. (After all, she was probably expecting  a frump, not Greer Garson.)

Okay, I'm going to give away the ending of the film here just because I think it needs to be included, but if you'd like you can just skip onto the next paragraph and onto the duel! In the end of the film, everything comes clean. Claire and Mary figure out who each other really are, and Rogers breaks it to Mary that he was never planning on leaving Claire for her. Claire and Mary manage to make amends, for they have respect for each other (after a very deep conversation between the two of them), and Claire leaves by herself (with Rogers chasing after her a little later.) Mary and Jimmy are left alone and the movie ends with the two of them in each other's arms. Predictable for the 40's, the married couple gets back together (most likely), proving adultery wrong - it all coincides with the Hays Code.

The irony of this rivalry is that when Claire and Mary actually meet each other, it isn't even a rivalry at all. Though before they probably contained nasty thoughts about one another, when they meet, well, it's all different - albeit, they don't know really know who the other is. Upon their first meeting, Jimmy introduces Claire to Mary as his "cousin," though Claire and Jimmy purposely act very flirty with one another, and Mary becomes obviously irked. But not much later and the two women are friends, and that night they have a very personal, honest conversation between the two of them. It is here where Claire gives away that her husband is a publisher (she doesn't give a name), and admits his many infidelities and how she feels about them. Here is where the two women grow in immense respect for each other: a respect so great that about ten minutes later, when Rogers bursts in the room and the truth comes out, they still manage to uphold that decency for one another.

Which lady was I rooting for? Okay, it's pretty obvious and call me biased: but Claire, or Greer, all the way. Yes, Mary was the writer, which was one thing I did like about her. But to me Claire's personality was the more likable one. She was really charming, and fashionable, and pretty - you kind of wondered what was wrong with Rogers for cheating on her all the time! I was "impressed", so to say, by her knowledge of sailing. There's a scene where she takes Jimmy on a boating trip that's so hilarious, mostly because Claire knows possibly everything about the boat and Jimmy is a mess. ;)

So yes, I was Team Claire. Since I didn't really like the Rogers character at all ("You dirty cheating rat!"), I more or less wanted Claire to land up with Jimmy. [SPOILER: That obviously didn't happen, but I really would've liked it to, they would've made a cute couple, I think.] 

Then there was Mary. I liked her obviously because she was a novelist, but a lot of it ended there. [Yeah, I can see you guys shaking your heads because you think this obviously isn't a fair comparison, not for me.] I think what bothered me the most was her ignorance of Claire [before she met her and she was a figment of existence, probably a frump who would happen to be her lover's wife]. I think it made her look selfish that upon beginning her affair with Rogers, she was only constrained by a little bit of guilt. It almost disgusted me when she took Rogers out to her friend's farm in Connecticut [this would later become the location of her meeting with Claire] to carry out the affair in a safe environment, more or less to protect herself instead of avoiding hurting Claire.

Plus, her fashion sense was kind of weird. I liked Claire's elegant gowns a lot (and the color blocked day dress she's wearing in the GIF above), but I just wasn't going crazy over Mary's Star Wars-Jedi like dress. And when you threw in the glasses she kinda looked like Gandhi.

When this movie was made, Greer was known for her work in 1940's "Pride and Prejudice", but Joan Crawford was the bigger movie star - it would be another year until the release of "Random Harvest" and "Mrs. Miniver," and Greer's successes in these two vehicles would launch a career that would make her the biggest star of the World War Two era. So at the time, Joan was the more popular one, but reviews of the film today often present Greer as the better actress in this film, and I must agree. But as I said in my review of this movie, Greer and Joan's acting styles are completely different - Greer is refined, Joan is more obvious - and therefore it isn't fair to contrast the two.

I did my best to try and find what the off screen relationship was between the two of these actresses: did they like each other? or not really? Here's what I found:

Greer showing off her legs backstage.

• "Joan was completely nonplussed that I refused to feud with her," said Greer. Apparently Joan grew more irked during filming when she perhaps realized how Greer's character was steeling the film, and it was not a "thankless" role as she had anticipated. About eight years later, Joan would seek revenge by embarrasing Greer at a dinner party. Joan seated Greer's then time beau (and later husband), Buddy Fogelson, at the main table with herself, and sent Greer to sit at the studio electricians table, "Because you get along with everybody, dear!"
• Joan's camp on the other hand, claims, that Joan was simply surprised that Greer was being headlined in this film along such big stars as she and Robert Taylor. She couldn't understand what she was doing there - but then again, she thought Claire's role a "thankless" one.

Oh, well!

Whose side are you on? [Even if you haven't seen this movie.] This is an interesting rivalry, on screen (where at times it wasn't much of a rivalry at all), and off screen, it appears, too!

I had a lot of fun with this topic and I thank Lara at Backlots for coming up with such an interesting topic! Be sure and go over to her blog so you can check out all the other entries! Thank you for hosting this, Lara! 

 ***

By the way, despite the fact that I like Greer Garson a LOT (as we all know) and I was on her side in many ways in this post, I don't want you all to think I despise Joan or anything! And yes, I am Team Bette... but really. And to prove it to you, here's a candid GIF of Joan looking beautiful  with some gorgeous auburn hair: 

Oh, and I thought you all ought to know that while I was writing this post, Jeopardy was on TV and there was a Classic Cinema topic!!! One of the questions was about "Mrs. Miniver," and I nearly fell out of my chair before screaming at the screen the quite obvious answer! I got the daily double, too, after endlessly  insisting, "The African Queen! The African Queen!" 

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE FIFTY + FOLLOWERS, EVERYONE! :) I'll be back soon to write a post for the Humphrey Bogart Blogathon!

5 Things I Loved: Madame Curie (1943)

So, because of my Four Sundays of Christmas blogathon, I haven't been able to do movie reviews for the movies I've been watching recently. One of these movies is "Madame Curie (1943)," with the Pidgeons (AKA, Greer and Walter) and I do want to talk about it. So I thought instead of doing a movie review like I usually do, I would take a little spin on "5 Things I Love," the segment I usually use for someone's birthday, and switch it around for a film. Therefore, I present to you five things I loved about "Madame Curie."

Over all, I give "Madame Curie," 4 out of 5 stars. Not an excellent film but I really did enjoy it all the while, and there were certainly points about it that I really loved, which I'll now point out to you!

5 Things I Loved: Madame Curie (1943)

Raising the biopic to new heights, director Mervyn LeRoy's Oscar-nominated drama stars Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon as the titular scientist and her French physicist husband. After young Polish student Marie and Dr. Pierre Curie fall in love and marry, the pair sets to work isolating a new element, radium. After years of painstaking research, their efforts pay off, but just as success comes calling, so does tragedy. [from Netflix]

#5: It made science come alive.

I'm really more of a English and history person than I am of a math/science person. I actually do make As in the two latter mentioned subjects, only they don't hold my attention or interest me as much as learning about the past or writing! However, this movie really made Madame Curie's story interesting to me. Now I'm really so impressed by what she did (and best of all - I understood how she did it!). And also, to do all she did in the early 20th century, which was a time where people expected women to sit back on their heels and let the men do everything - well, impressive is an understatement! For once, science was thrilling, and though a lot of it had to do with the fact it was Greer and Walter discovering radium, well, it was still exciting for once!

#4: "To catch a star..."

There's one line often used when Marie Curie's story is told, and that is this lovely lovely line: "To catch a star on your fingertips." Well, for the romanticizing writer that I am, that's one line that really sets me dreaming. Doesn't it? And add to that line Greer's expression, the dreaminess flitting across her pretty face, and all of that, and you can nearly feel the stardust on your fingertips. 

[via]

#3: The way nerdy scientists fall in love, and propose.

The one adorable scene in this movie is when Walter's character, Pierre Curie, decides all of a sudden to come out with and propose to Marie. It's the middle of the night and they're staying at his parents house in the French countryside, and he stomps up to her bedroom and bangs on the door, "Madame Skłodowska!" (her name before she was married). Then he goes in there, and she's sitting in the bed all confuzzled, and then in the most brilliant vocabulary, drawing comparisons to themselves and scientific compounds, he explains why the should get married (for it will be best for the world of science.). And then in the same, well, nerdy way Greer agrees - and happily Walter agrees to this, leaves the room, and then comes back, realizing he's forgotten something. He then plants a kiss on Greer's forehead. Here, watch for yourself (starts at 40 minutes and 55 seconds):

#2: The supporting cast.

This movie has a fantastic, fantastic support casting! Henry Travers, one of my favorite character actors and Clarence from "It's a Wonderful Life," plays Walter's father. Van Johnson, who was not yet a star (just three years earlier he'd played in his first movie role, a chorus boy in "Too Many Girls," the 1940 movie in which Lucy and Desi fell in love on the set of ;D), makes a really short appearance as a reporter (you can watch it here). And then there's Margaret O'Brian as their daughter. She's so adorable, really! And you know, Margaret was such a big star in her own right in the early 40's. I loved her in "Meet Me in St. Louis" - I think I like her much better than Shirley Temple. Here she is with Greer and Walter in a very sweet scene (the Curies have once more hit a glitch in their quest to discover radium): 

#1: It made me CRY.

Okay, so this is honestly a SPOILER, unless you know Marie Curie's life story, in which you might already know this was coming. Anyway, SPOILER. Now, let's get on with it - so after they discovered radium, the Pidgeons and the adorable Margaret O'Brian (and their new baby) go on a holiday for some much needed rest (they'd been working in a shed for five years, being exposed to radium constantly), and Greer and Walter have this short conversation about what would happen if one of them had to go on without the other. After this, and the movie continues, I just honestly knew in my heart that Walter was going to die. Thus comes a scene where Greer's getting all dressed up and looking gorgeous for a party, and Walter decides to go out and get her some earrings, and on his way back - he's walking in the street - and I just knew it was coming, I'd been saying it for ten minutes that he was going to die - well, he gets run over by a wagon and dies instantly. Then Greer discovers the news and has the most painful expression on her face and I just started crying! I think it's the first time I've cried over a human dying in a movie. There comes a certain part where Greer just clutches the earrings he'd bought for her before dying, and crumples to the floor sobbing, and I just cried harder and harder. So yes, it made me cry, that's simply how amazing Greer and Walter are.

Greer looking lovely, and Walter right before he sets out to purchase the earrings. You just know it's going to happen! :/

***

Well, there it is, five things I loved about "Madame Curie (1943)". And like I said, overall I really enjoyed this movie and I suggest you watch it. The full movie is on Youtube, and the link for it is up in #3.

Christmas vacation and the holidays are almost here! I can hardly wait! :)

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: "Mrs. Parkington" (1944)

Keeping with the theme of my Greer Garson obsession, I have one of her movies for this SMR. Actually, I wasn't sure whether to review this or "My Man Godfrey" (1936), but I decided to go with this one. There isn't much to say about the latter except it's a brilliant, adorable screwball comedy, Carole Lombard and William Powell were magnificent, and you really ought to see it.

***

The poster: Nothing spectacular, but that's a pretty portrait of Miss Greer there. 

The plot:

In this family saga, Mrs. Parkington recounts the story of her life, beginning as a hotel maid in frontier Nevada where she is swept off her feet by mine owner and financier Augustus Parkington. He moves them to New York, tries to remake her into a society woman, and establishes their home among the wealthiest of New York's high society. Family and social life is not always peaceful, however, and she guides us, in flashbacks, through the rises and falls of the Parkington family fortunes. [from IMdb]

The starring players:

• Greer Garson as Susie "Sparrow" Parkington
• Walter Pidgeon as Major Augustus Parkington
• Agnes Moorehead as Baroness Aspasia Conti

The verdict:

3.5 / 5

I have mixed feelings about this film! One of the first things I noticed when I began to watch it was, "Oh, no, Greer's playing an old woman!" And then in succession: "Oh no, Greer's gone brunette!" (Not like there's anything wrong with the latter - I mean, I'm a brunette myself but don't we all love to see Greer with her glorious red hair even if you couldn't really see it anyway because it's in black and white, but that's besides the point.). However, I tried not to let these things bother me and continued into the movie. I must say I liked this movie because it was sweet. It's always fun to see Greer as an American girl for me -;) and I get a one up! She was of course excellent as she usually is, I'm really appreciating her refined style of acting (among the many reasons I now adore her).  Not to mention that her character was really likable. And though at first I thought it was crazy for her to be in the old woman get up, I was watching this on my iPod, on Youtube, in fuzzy black and white so things turned out okay for me there. I'm alright with the idea now because I think it gave depth to her character, the movie being in flashbacks. Oh, and as for the brunette part - she was still gorgeous and I got used to it as the movie moved on (but still glad she returned to red after this). 

As for Walter Pidgeon: he I am also gaining a greater fondness for, though not exactly head over heels like I did with Greer. :D Still, I liked him and he and Greer always have excellent chemistry so no wonder they were paired so often together. As for his character, his character was much bolder and at times slightly harder to like, but at the end of the day you knew he meant well so I accepted it. Agnes Moorehead, who I love of course, I simply adored as the Baroness Aspasia. She bounced off some great lines. There were some other minor actors who played members of the Parkington family, but they were all kind of unlikable so won't get into them. 

Since I really enjoyed the performances of the three main characters, most of the problems I had with this movie fell in it's script and the like. The flashbacks seemed somewhat random and rough at points, and so did the plot line. Keep in mind that this film spawns sixty years or so, and so if you don't like those kind of movies steer clear. Because of that at times the plot seemed a little hard to follow, not to mention you had the contrasting storylines of what was happening in flashback world and what was happening in the present day (some corruption plot involving a Parkington family member due to a niece wanting to run away with her boyfriend?). I wish all of this had been slightly cleaner.

And it is slightly ridiculous when, a certain point in the movie, Greer runs into the jolly old Prince of Wales. Never good when famous people randomly pop up in movies. ;) So for some of those reasons, I cannot give this movie four stars. But it's not to say I didn't enjoy the movie - it was entertaining, to me it was kind of "Giant" except with a New York society setting. Well acted by the main players (of course), so most of the issues fall in the way the plot was conducted. But over all I did like it and I wouldn't discourage you to watch it.

The bottom line:

If you are a fan of the main players you will be able to enjoy and like this movie. If you're just in the mood to watch a movie and give this a try, you'll probably enjoy yourself all the while but the annoyances you'll find in the plot, etc., will become relevant. 

Some photos:

Some trivia:

• The fourth of the eight movies that Greer and Walter did
• Lux Radio Theater did a radio adaption of this in November 1946, with Greer and Walter reprising their roles

A movie tidbit:

You can watch the full movie here.

***

That's all for now, folks! I hope you enjoyed the review and have a good start into the week. :)

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!

Happy Birthday, Vivien! [5 Things I Love]

Since my birthday posts tend to be a little aimless and rambling, I thought I would try what I used on Carole Lombard's birthday: listing my five favorite things about the person whose birthday is in question! This is going to be with a little less detail than Carole's post, because I made Vivien a video, too.

WARNING: Rianna somehow turns into a crazy cat lady (DESPITE THE FACT SHE HAS NEVER OWNED A CAT) in this post and brings up cats indubitably. Excessively. I mean it. So if you have a problem with cats, it's probably better to turn away...

Happy birthday, Vivien!

#5: Her cat smile.

I've mentioned this several times before ;-) but it's true that she does have a cat smile, doesn't she?? I'm currently reading her biography, and at one point someone recalls an incident in which Vivien was sitting and "smiling like a Cheshire Cat". :D I don't think she would mind her smile being called that, either - she once said, "I'm mad about cats!"

#4: Her eyes.

I don't want to be too repetitive and call her eyes "cat eyes", but they kind of are. I mention this because in my art class we're doing in a project to draw a single eye, and we can make it as abstract or as real as we want, etc., and I'm using Vivien's blue-green eye (complete with her famously arched eyebrow) as my model. 

#3: Her love of cats.

Okay, okay, I promise this will be my last mention of cats in this post!!! (No, I'm not even a crazy cat lady or anything - I don't even own a cat, really!). I'm making her seem.... very... catty, which she was, but not in the proper sense of the word. Anyhow. ;) She really did love cats, you know. I believe she had several Siamese ones, and she and Larry once took a stray tabby cat off the street to take care of it. In her biography, I read that when she was about six or seven her parents sent her away from her home (India) to England to study at the Sacred Heart Convent. Vivien brought with her a little, tiny kitten and even though pets weren't allowed they just had to make allowances for Vivien.

Isn't she adorable with that cat???

#2: Her marriage to Larry Olivier.

Well, yes! They were married 1940-1960, just like Lucy and Desi. And though, of course, the latter couple will always been my favorite Classic Hollywood couple, "Viv and Larry" are up there as well. I learned a lot more about them after watching "Larry and Vivien: The Oliviers in Love". Certainly gossipy but worth a watch. It's on Youtube, and you can click the picture below to go to the video page.

YES, I had to use the photo of them with a cat....

#1: Scarlett O'Hara.

Well, this in it itself is pretty obvious, isn't it??? "Gone With the Wind" being one of my favorite movies and Scarlett O'Hara one of my favorite characters - and for goodness sake, this blog is called Frankly, My Dear! Anyway, I think Vivien's performance as Scarlett is exceptional, and not only does she bring justice to the Margaret Mitchell character she makes is come alive on screen. She really seems to fit the bill, if you read the actual book and Margaret Mitchell's descriptions. This is stereotypical to say, but this must be one of my favorite performances ever. And I also love the fact that when she turned down the role of Isabelle in "Wuthering Heights" (she wanted the lead, of course), the producers went something along the lines of, "Now, you're real stupid - you won't get a better role than this for your American debut!" And she went and got Scarlett O'Hara, of course.

And here is my tribute video for the lovely lady. I was planning to use "Tara's Theme", but the more I looked at the clips of Vivien I had, the more I realized that the excitement of that theme was in a sharp contrast to the more somber clips of hers. So I went with the theme from "Now, Voyager" - I adore that theme, it's got to be one of my favorite movie themes, and it seemed to fit her.

***

That's it for today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VIVIEN, and have a happy Saturday, readers! I'll leave you with a photo of Greer and Vivien, as we all know I'm currently in Greer Garson obsessive mode. Oh, and Leslie Howard, too, but I'm not exactly a huge Leslie fan...

PS: Sorry I turned in a crazy cat lady, really! I guess it's catching, maybe from all the reading I've been doing about Vivien!
PSS: Also, birthday wishes to Roy Rogers and Joel McCrea!