Just got these two books from Amazon and cannot wait to dive in. I have been on a Flynn kick since his birthday celebration on June 20 [ I took the day off from work for the occasion ]. Being a fellow Gemini, I have always felt a special connection with the last swashbuckler. In addition, he died the year I was born. Tomorrow at 1pm PST on TCM they are having a rare showing of 1958's ' Too Much, Too Soon ' in which he plays an aging and quite burnt out John Barrymore. In fact Flynn himself was a burnt out shell of a man when he made this movie and he would be dead some 16 months after it's release in May 1958. I saw this film, just once years ago, on an extinct TV station called KCOP channel 13 out of Los Angeles. As far as I know this movie hasn't been shown on TCM before, so I hope you can understand my excitement. As for the books, I have several bios on Errol in my library, a couple of the best are his autobiography ' My Wicked, Wicked Ways' which I first read as a mere lad of fifteen and ' Inherited Risk ' by Jeffrey Meyers which is a duel bio about Errol and his only son Sean, who was reported MIA in Vietnam while working as a photojournalist there in 1970. Both of these new books have gotten fairly high marks from film buffs and Flynn fans so I was thrilled to free up some hard earned cash and finally get them [ ' Slept Here 'was published in 2009 and ' Errol & Olivia' in 2010 ] Maybe I will review them after I plunge in the deep, murky water of Olivia and Flynn's working relationship and the sad, sordid, ghostly goings on at Mulholland House. So much of Flynn and the people he knew and touched in his life had somewhat sad endings: His son Sean dead in 1970, one of his daughters Arnella died in 1998 at age 44 and Mulholland House itself destroyed in the 1990's split up into parcels of land, sold to the highest bidder. Lots of ghosts to deal with. Wish me luck.
Underrated as Soames Forsythe in 1949's That Forsythe Woman with Greer Garson, Robert Young and Janet Leigh
Sometimes age has it's advantages. I was around to experience our country's Bicentennial in 1976, I spent it with my family at Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Disneyland was wall to wall people that day and the weather was a scorcher. The fireworks were a blast as usual, and Mickey, Donald and Goofy led the parade down Main Street, USA dressed as Minute Men. Well a lot has changed in America since that day, to name just a few: Our House of Representatives brought articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton in 1998 for perjury and abuse of power, but it was really because he couldn't keep his pecker in his pants, we saw New York City decimated by terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001 and we've elected our first President of color, Barack Obama, in 2008. But I wish to call to your attention this day to a movie that made little noise when it was released in November 1972, ' 1776 '.
Gwyneth Paltrow's mom as Martha Jefferson
I first saw the movie in 1973 at the Fairview theater and thought it a good rendering of what had been a smash, Tony winning Broadway musical. It in fact won the Tony for Musical of the Year for 1969. I didn't read critics in those days, being all of about 13 or 14 years old , but I have viewed some excerpts from Vincent Canby of The New York Times in which he says the music was " resolutely unmemorable " and that the lyrics sound as if they were written by " someone high on Root Beer ". Roger Ebert gave it two stars out of 4. What I find fascinating is that for a film adaptation ' 1776 ' is remarkably faithful. If Broadway critics loved it why didn't film critics love it too? Owning the Broadway musical soundtrack and thus listening to it countless times, I noticed but one omission of the songs, the politically charged ' Cool, Cool Considerate Men '. The film's leads were members of the original stage show: William Daniels as John Adams, Howard De Silva as Ben Franklin and Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson. Having one or two members of the cast of a Broadway show reprise their roles for the screen is rare. Having all three leads and several of the supporting cast in the film version is downright radical.
Ben, Tom and John contemplate the consequences of independence.
The film was produced by a Hollywood old timer, Jack L Warner. The former studio chief [ from the 1920's to the 1960's ] of Warner Brothers studios was friends with then President Nixon. It was Nixon, who didn't cotton to ' Cool, Cool Considerate Men ' feeling it being a knock on conservatives in 1970's Washington, that brought pressure on Warner to cut the song. Warner did cut it, but not before the scene had been filmed. Warner not only ordered the scene cut from the film but that the negative of the scene be destroyed. Fortunately a film editor on the film saved the deleted scene and it was restored for the DVD and subsequent television showings. I was happy to see this as I feel it's one of the best songs from the score. I hoped I could find a film clip from YouTube to share but I couldn't. However I did find this sound clip:
' 1776 ' presents us our founding fathers as human. Adams is obnoxious and disliked, Franklin is horny yet philosophical and a newlywed Jefferson aches for his wife, Martha, played by a delectable Blythe Danner. It is the only movie I know that deals with the painful birth of our country in a humorous and fairly accurate way [ except that our founding fathers couldn't carry a tune ]. One big history lesson I got out of this is that the southern states refused to sign the declaration unless the slavery clause be removed. By removing it congress planted the seeds of the War Between The States, surely our country's bloodiest hour. I wonder today what law congress wants to stop or repeal [ Obama care, Roe Vs.Wade ? ] and the consequences it may have 50 or 60 years from now. The parallels between our congress then and our congress of today [ as Adams says they ' piddle, twiddle and resolve: nothing's ever solved' ] is scary. As history shows time and again, this country is only successful when we progress, not digress. How this country got started and how close we came to not getting it started is an amazing history lesson that this movie brings home in a touching, humorous and altogether winning way. I say ye 1776!! Happy 4th of July everyone!
A beautiful Maid Marian, Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938
This one almost got past me. July 1 marks the 96th birthday of Lovely Livy. Last living co-star of the epic soaper ' Gone With The Wind ' and for all I know possibly the only living member of the film that all epics are more or less measured against. She is also the former flame of legendary lothario writer/director John Huston and fended off more than a few advances from screen partner Errol Flynn. The duo made a total of eight films together starting with 1935's' Captain Blood' and culminating with 1942's' They Died With Their Boots' On. In between they also made ' Dodge City ' in 1939, ' Charge of the Light Brigade ' in 1936 and 1938's all-time classic ' The Adventures of Robin Hood '. According to de Havilland herself Errol tried for several years to jump her bones, to no avail. Appears that she was the one who got away from that Tasmanian Devil Flynn. Their final film was ' Boots ' and Olivia has said that both she and Flynn knew it was to be their last film together, so the knowledge of that gave their farewell scene where General Custer goes off to do battle at the Little Big Horn a bittersweet poignancy .She never gave the movies she made with him much credit, but they live on today as great epics, spectacles with sound, fury, adventure and romance from a distant time and place that no longer exists. The movies are the poorer without them.
Olivia's career covered more than five decades with the 30's and 40's being her golden period in which she would win two Best Actress Oscar's and have several more nominations her first coming in the Supporting Actress catagory with ' GWTW '. If I had to pick only one Olivia perfomance to take with me on a desert island, I might pick 1941's Mitchell Leisen's 'Hold Back The Dawn' with Charles Boyer. An acerbic, touching romantic drama from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett before that duo went on to be one of the great writer-director-producer partnerships Hollywood ever produced. Still with us living in France [ Paris ?], one of the Golden Ages last movie stars when that really meant something, 96 years old today, but forever young, delicate and beautiful to me. Happy Birthday!
Great pic of the two stars probably from around 1940. Note the hand holding.
Happy Birthday Day to Sir Paul, Macca himself. Bass player extraordinaire, peerless songwriter, harmoniously awesome. And one of the more versatile musicians of the rock era. He can play bass [duh!], drums, piano, lead guitar and probably several other instruments that I am not aware of.
Here are some thing's you may not know about him: He played the guitar solo on 'Taxman'. Played drums on 'Back in the USSR' & 'Dear Prudence' [ Ringo was on holiday, or quit which ever version one prefers ], was the only other Beatle, besides John to play on ' The Ballad of John & Yoko'. Held The Beatles together after Brian Epstein died in August 1967, while John dropped acid, George found Indian mysticism and Ringo played daddy to his 2 sons. This last bit got Paul nothing but grief from a couple of his colleagues, who viewed him as too pushy [ see 'Let it Be', the movie. Or try to, as You Tube is about the only way to view it; no DVD or Blu-ray exists, despite previous promises to the contrary ]. In addition to all that he has had to deal with the ghost of John Lennon for the past 30-plus years. Or should I say "Saint" John Lennon. I love all the Beatles, always have always will, but to me John has been canonized to a ridiculous degree. Not that he wasn't great, he was, but come on. Some songs with fave Paul bass lines:
I Want You,
That Was Me,
Silly Love Songs,
The Word, Drive My Car and ComeTogether So anyway lift a pint or roll a fattie and toast Sir Macca on his 70th!
With older sister, the delectable Olivia de Havilland
Atmospheric, gothic opening to the film
Joan is kind of a new movie obsession for me. I picked up a used copy of the autobiography called ' No Bed of Roses ' which delves into the prickly relationship she has always had with her older [ by a year ] sis, Livy. I'm guessing Olivia has the better rep of the two among buffs. With credits like ' Gone With The Wind ' on your resume it would be hard not to be a fave. Throw in all those buckles she swashed with bad boy Errol Flynn and she's a top contender for all-time favorite female. Plus she has two Oscars to poor Joanie's one.
Whom ever one prefers, Joan is my crush of the week, if only for the two Hitchcock's in her canon: 1940's 'Rebecca' and 1941's 'Suspicion '. Both films get kind of the brush off by some Hitchcock enthusiast as not up to par with his later masterworks such as ' Rear Window ', ' Psycho ', and so forth, but ' Rebecca ' was a important film at the time it was made and a Best Picture Oscar winner to boot for Alfred, his first American film and the only Hitchcock movie to be so honored. Hard to believe today but the suspense thriller genre, that Hitchcock toiled in so prodigiously during his career, was considered a somewhat debased form of entertainment. Check out the top ten best lists of the 40's & 50's and one will find nary a suspenser among them. Somewhat like today's movies, films from the classic period had to be about something to be taken seriously. Like the musical the thriller was considered just a piece of fluff, although unlike the musical not a highly polished one.
' Why don't you? '
Of course, ' Rebecca ' was anything but a debased film, even if it was a thriller it was a romantic one whose leading character is highly fragile and shy, but also beautiful and one that would appeal to the ladies of the day who not only comprised a large portion of the audience, but in most households decided which films the family would or would not see. One interesting aspect of the film is that Fontaine's character is never addressed by her first name. We are never told it. She is only referred to as Mrs. DeWinter, after her marriage to Laurence Olivier's somewhat remote, brooding Maxim. It turns out he has a lot to brood about as his first wife, who the film is named for and whose ghostly presence hangs over the film like a delicious fog , is dead and was possibly murdered. Not only that, Maxim may be the murderer. Then there is the evil Mrs. Danvers the head housekeeper, who was also the first Mrs. DeWinters' confidant. There is a subtle undercurrent of lesbianism between Mrs. Danvers and Rebecca. Whenever Danvers speaks of Rebecca she goes into a strange type of trance, almost a controlled orgasm. One can see the bond between them was tight. Weather 1940 audiences pick up on this I cannot say, but modern critics have picked up and commented on it and it makes the film fascinating to watch. Fontaine, in her first major role, capture's her character to perfection. The mousey bookworm, who falls in love with a man who happens to be extraordinarily wealthy yet haunted, is suddenly in way over her head yet manages by films' end to overcome and master her fears.
Stylish on the outside in ' Suspicion '
' Suspicion ', made the following year, is on the surface almost a sequel with Joan playing a wallflower, bookish type [ she is reading a book in the first scene of the film ] who lives with her parents in the English countryside.Into her life comes Johnny Ayesgarth a slightly raffish, devil may care type played by Cary Grant. This was the first of four Hitchcock films Grant was to appear in, the other three being 1946's 'Notorious ' with Ingrid Bergman and the magnificent Claude Rains, 1955's ' To Catch A Thief ' with Grace Kelly and 1959's ' North By Northwest' with Eva Marie Saint and another one of Hitchcock's smooth suave villains, James Mason.
The mysterious glass of milk
This is a somewhat poor stepsister to 'Rebecca' in among us buffs. The reason goes is that the ending was compromise [ beware possible spoilers ahead ] with the Grant character not being a murderer after all, just some kind of ne'er do well, and that everything that had gone on before was all in the mind of Lina, the Fontaine character. Supposedly audiences in 1941 couldn't accept Grant, a staple of the best screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's, as a villain. But there are two ways of looking at this movie. If Grant had been a murderer ' Suspicion' would have played out somewhat predictably, along the lines of so many women-in-danger sub-genre films that have been so popular with moviegoers through the years [ ' The Unguarded Moment ', ' The Reckless Moment ', ' The Accused ', ' Sleeping with the Enemy ' ]. By having all the suspicion going on in Lina's mind makes for a more interesting psychological thriller putting the character flaws not just with Grant for being such an irresponsible cad, but with Lina for not trying to understand her husband or at least communicating her fears and anxieties to him. Miscommunication is huge in this film, but it's not the kind one sees in comedies where if one person had told the other what had happened everything would be roses and sunshine. Hitchcock being Hitchcock and not Joel Schumacher there is always so much more going on. The theme of a man being wrongly accused is a favorite of the director's. From his early British masterwork 'The 39 Steps' to ' Saboteur ' to ' Strangers on a Train ' to ' I Confess ' to ' North by Northwest ', this wrongfully accused theme had it's ultimate exploration in 1957's ' The Wrong Man ' with Henry Fonda.
As for Joan, his critical rep lies mostly with this and the aforementioned ' Rebecca'. She was Oscar nominated for both and won for ' Suspicion '. One of the other nominees was sister Olivia. No wonder they cannot stand each other. On the right one more look at Joan, with Oscar. One other thing, if you haven't voted for this months poll, and you wish to, you can find it on the right side of this blog.
June 10th is Judy Garland's 90th birthday. She died June 22,1969 at 47. In between she pack in a lot of living. An icon of gay men and women everywhere, Garland was married 5 times most famously to director Vincente Minnelli which produced another gay icon, Liza. 5 husbands is not a good track record and Garland wasn't the best judge of men. The two who probably did the best by her were Vincente hubby # 2, and Sid Luft hubby # 3, with whom she had 2 more children, Lorna & Joey. Her marriage to Luft lasted the longest, about 10 years. With Minnelli, Judy made the any-holiday classic Meet Me in St. Louis in 1944, and a personal favorite the war time romance The Clock in 1945. Married in 1945, the artistic, quiet, sensitive Minnelli was 42 to Judy's 23. Always in search of a father figure, Garland chose one who also made her feel beautiful on screen for the first time for Judy always had a problem about her looks [ MGM studio boss Louis B Mayer called her ' my little hunchback' ] Coming up in the ranks at Metro the same time as Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Lamarr will also do that to a person, I suppose. Unfortunately Minnelli was also bi-sexual, and at times, couldn't give Garland the basic needs she craved. Their on screen collaboration ended with 1947's The Pirate with Gene Kelly. They separated in 1950 and she was let go by Metro that same year. Their divorce was final in 1951. The marriage to Luft resulted in not only their 2 kids but also what may be her best work ever on film, 1954's A Star is Born. In this movie, which Luft produced, Garland transcended the material and gave what is a very affecting movie experience. In fact one could almost make a claim for her being too good as it almost throws the movie off-center, were it not for the equally expert playing of James Mason as her love interest Norman Maine, she would be the focus of the film. However, the story is really Norman's. That is something most tend to overlook. The performances, the color, photography, set design, music, script, all under the steady hand of cinema master George Cukor [ Philadelphia Story, Gaslight, Born Yesterday, A Double Life, Holiday, My Fair Lady ; one could go on and on ] makes this a must see. But I have posted on this movie before. Despite the many merits of this film, 6 Oscar noms including ones for Garland & Mason as Best Actor & Actress of the year [ they lost ], it cost so much, over 6 million 1954 dollars [ over 50 million in 2012 dollars ], it failed to earn a profit for Warner Brothers. Consequently, Garland didn't make another film until her cameo in the Holocaust-trial film Judgement at Nuremberg in 1961. Nuremberg earned Judy her second Oscar nom but her first as Best Supporting Actress. She lost again, natch. In between these films she had several bouts of depression and suicide attempts [ most of which were kept from the press at the time] and separations with Luft, a dangerous time with hepatitis, and a triumphant and historic series of concerts at New York City's Carnegie Hall in 1961. In 1962 she signed with CBS for a weekly television variety show called The Judy Garland Show. Critically acclaimed, the show was in the Sunday night slot opposite NBC's Bonanza, the biggest, most popular show on the tube at that time. Her show was a ratings disappointment and got cancelled after 1 season.
Not much of note happened the last 5 or 6 years of her life: a couple more failed marriages, fired from the film version of Valley of the Dolls. She mostly did concerts and tried to avoid the bill collectors beating at her door. Judy died of an overdose of pills on June 22, 1969. I remember when I heard the news. I was spending a couple of summer months in Kansas City, Kansas with my Aunt & Uncle. I was 10 and remember thinking: Dorothy is dead. It struck me as something tragic and sad, tho I didn't really know the details of her death and certainly not the details of her life and it's many attempts at suicide. Her death was ruled an accidental drug overdose. I believe in accidental overdoses. There was a time when I didn't, but now having reached the age when some kind of medication or even vitamin is necessary, I know what it is like for a certain confusion to set in. I often cannot recall if I have taken my blood pressure medicine or not. So to say Judy's death was accidental, no matter how many attempts at ending her life, seems believable to me. Sad, regrettable, but believable.
I think the important thing is to look at Garland with fresh eyes [ and ears ]. We have all heard of her and seen her if only as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz as a dim childhood memory. So consequently she is taken for granted by casual movie watchers and canonized by others. A huge musical star in films she was also one of it's top ten box office attractions during the World War II. Garland was also a tremendous dramatic actress as good in her way as Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. But she did so much more and she is one of the few performers whom we are acquainted with almost instantly for every child goes through Oz at least once three times. With Oz, Easter Parade and Meet Me in St Louis, Garland has perennial favorites that play on TV at least once every year. Part of her myth is her personal story, sad and destructive. Much like Marilyn, it is difficult to separate the performer from the performance and I guess if we did they may not have the hold on film lovers like they do. I think for all her vulnerability Judy was tougher than Monroe. There is a story about the two of them at a Hollywood party with Monroe arriving at about the same time as Garland. She grips Judy by the arm and says ' Don't leave.Stay with me, I'm scared.' At which point Judy says ' Scared? We're all scared! Let me go'. Or words to that effect. Now that's not to say Marilyn was a frightened naive thing all the time, far from it, but Judy knew the game better than Monroe did and could play it when she had to.
By 1969, Garland was pretty much at the end of her rope. Hubby # 5 didn't seem any better than the first 4 and she was having trouble finding steady employment. Pictures of her at this time show a woman looking rail thin worn out, older than a 46 - 47 year old should. She'd had enough. She played the game as long as she could. She gave us everything until there was nothing left to give.
As a birthday tribute Turner Classic Movies are showing some of her best all day on Sunday June 10th. 11 films, from 1938's Love Finds Andy Hardy to 1963's I Could Go On Singing, which could serve as her epitaph. So tune in and watch at least one. There are worse ways to spend a Sunday. I can hardly think of a better way.
It was one year ago, May 26, 2011 that I posted my first blog entry. I haven't devoted nearly enough time to it and haven't done a fraction of the things I want to do with it. So my resolution [ cross thy fingers ] is to post more entries, regardless of the quality [ quality, some of you may be asking. What quality? ]
As my second year progresses I hope to include some anniversary movies from 1932,1942,1952,1962,1972 & 1982 . Some may be predictable, some may be movies a lot of you have never seen or heard of. Some more crushes of the week will be a staple feature. Mostly I want to post more items on anything that catches my eye, buzzes around my brain or stimulates my senses of cinema. And please feel free to comment or "like" an entry on facebook as I always will post it when a new item is posted. I would love to hear from everyone who at least glances at this blog. I have been poor about responding, I will try to do better. So put a candle on the cake, pour the wine and let party begin!
Just got these two books from Amazon and cannot wait to dive in. I have been on a Flynn kick since his birthday celebration on June 20 [ I took the day off from work for the occasion ]. Being a fellow Gemini, I have always felt a special connection with the last swashbuckler. In addition, he died the year I was born. Tomorrow at 1pm PST on TCM they are having a rare showing of 1958's ' Too Much, Too Soon ' in which he plays an aging and quite burnt out John Barrymore. In fact Flynn himself was a burnt out shell of a man when he made this movie and he would be dead some 16 months after it's release in May 1958. I saw this film, just once years ago, on an extinct TV station called KCOP channel 13 out of Los Angeles. As far as I know this movie hasn't been shown on TCM before, so I hope you can understand my excitement. As for the books, I have several bios on Errol in my library, a couple of the best are his autobiography ' My Wicked, Wicked Ways' which I first read as a mere lad of fifteen and ' Inherited Risk ' by Jeffrey Meyers which is a duel bio about Errol and his only son Sean, who was reported MIA in Vietnam while working as a photojournalist there in 1970. Both of these new books have gotten fairly high marks from film buffs and Flynn fans so I was thrilled to free up some hard earned cash and finally get them [ ' Slept Here 'was published in 2009 and ' Errol & Olivia' in 2010 ] Maybe I will review them after I plunge in the deep, murky water of Olivia and Flynn's working relationship and the sad, sordid, ghostly goings on at Mulholland House. So much of Flynn and the people he knew and touched in his life had somewhat sad endings: His son Sean dead in 1970, one of his daughters Arnella died in 1998 at age 44 and Mulholland House itself destroyed in the 1990's split up into parcels of land, sold to the highest bidder. Lots of ghosts to deal with. Wish me luck. 
