The Golden Age: Classic Movie Thread

[Deleted]

May 13, 2010 12:14:50 GMT -4 LAX said:

My Netflix queue grows! For a while I was mistaking David Niven for William Powell. D'oh.

Ages ago I read David Niven's biography after I found it in the free bin at my local library. He seemed like a straightforward, all around good, fellow. I liked how he recounted his conversation with Lauren Bacall the night Humphrey Bogart died. He made her seem sweet and human.

He was well regarded as a kind and classy man. Like I said, I have been in love with him since I was a child. My Grandma says when I was around 9 or 10 we were watching some of his films and I supposedly said I loved him and was going to marry him when I turned 18. She told me that now he was Pop Pop's age and said I didn't care if he was old and wrinkly, we were going to be together forever. And I apparently wrote on one of my school notebooks Kathi & David 4- ever. I don't remember any of this but she loves to tell her friends that story. And it does sound like me at that age lol. Shoot, it sounds like me now!

Barrett0033 & Niven 4-ever

[heyalice]

TCM dedicated every day in the month of August to a different star and I have recorded about a dozen movies. I watched LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN with Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crane. Both women were STUNNING. Gene Tierney was flippin' NUTS. And of course, crazy with a killer wardrobe.

[Gracie]

Aug 29, 2010 19:25:55 GMT -4 heyalice said:

TCM dedicated every day in the month of August to a different star and I have recorded about a dozen movies. I watched LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN with Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crane. Both women were STUNNING. Gene Tierney was flippin' NUTS. And of course, crazy with a killer wardrobe.

Speaking of Gene Tierney, Laura in all it's splendor was on recently. Two weeks before that, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir with Gene and Rex Harrison was on. That left me as a huge puddle of goo, as always.

[litzikohanovich]

Oooh, I love 'Laura' too! Also in my top ten, 'The Third Man' and 'Rear Window.'

And, I forgot the 1938 version of 'The Lady Vanishes' with Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. It is such fun and Margaret Lockwood was so damn beautiful.

[proper stranger]

Aug 29, 2010 19:25:55 GMT -4 heyalice said:

TCM dedicated every day in the month of August to a different star and I have recorded about a dozen movies.

I love TCM's "Summer Under the Stars"! My DVR got a workout last week on John Gilbert day. I saw "Flesh and the Devil" again, which featured Gilbert and Greta Garbo in all their glory. Garbo was especially awesome as the femme fatale (putting on lipstick in church as the minister condemns her behavior, admiring herself while trying on mourning veils, etc.). I'm looking forward to watching the others I recorded.

[heyalice]

Is 'Summer Under the Stars' an annual thing? I only discovered it in the last two weeks because of EW's Must List. I recorded movies I've heard things about but have never got around to watching like 'The Big Sleep' and 'Bringing Up Baby'. I recorded 'Butterfield 8' with La Liz because when she won the Oscar for it folks were apparently scratching their heads about her winning for that. I started to watch 'Goodbye Mr. Chips' but got bored. The hotness that was John Lone in 'Last Emperor' still make my heart skip a beat.
Dammit! How come I didn't remember Gene Tierney was in LAURA?
Preference: Philadelphia Story or High Society?

[divasahm]

Sept 1, 2010 23:50:27 GMT -4 heyalice said:

Preference: Philadelphia Story or High Society?

BOTH!!!

I love PS for the rapid-fire dialogue, the chemistry between Hepburn and Grant, and Jimmy Stewart's presence. I love HS for the gorgeous sets, Crosby and Sinatra together and singing, and the sheer beauty of Grace Kelly and her wardrobe (and her actual engagement ring from Prince Ranier--the studio wouldn't let her wear it for insurance liability reasons, but the fake ring they created looked so similar that she wore her real one anyway and nobody noticed--it was ENORMOUS!).

I actually have "True Love" on my mp3 player.

[huntergrayson]

heyalice - "Summer Under The Stars" is indeed an annual thing. And I highly suggest you watch Bringing Up Baby IMMEDIATELY. The Big Sleep can wait. It's more famous for the chemistry of Bogie and Bacall on their first meet-up than anything else -- plus, the plot is so convoluted that even Raymond Chandler himself, who wrote the novel, admitted that he has no clue what's going on. Bogie does make a decent Marlowe but I say just save yourself the trouble and read Chandler instead. No film has ever quite gotten him right, IMO.

I do love The Philadelphia Story to death but I can't quite flat-out adore it for some reason. Parts of it just seem so...cruel. Especially in terms of the way that everyone has to cut Tracy down to size. Grant and Hepburn are magnificent together - between this, Bringing Up Baby and Holiday, I think they have the best on-screen chemistry of any golden age couple.

I'll have to watch High Society again because it didn't seem too memorable to me at the time. Grace did look fabulous, of course. Interesting tidbit about the ring!

I learned recently that Anna Kendrick got her start playing Dinah Lord in High Society on Broadway - and was one of the youngest performers ever to get a Tony nom!

The Lady Eve is my all-time favorite from this era.

And now y'all just want make me want to watch my DVDs and TCM all day.

[MrsCatHead]

I agree about The Philadelphia Story. Esp the part where Tracy's dad basically blames her for cheating on his wife/her mom.

I didn't like High Society. Grace is gorgeous, natch, but she seemed like she was overacting, overplaying her character. It all just felt really flat to me.

LOVE Bringing up Baby. But one of my fave old films is It Happened One Night.

[millie77]

Sept 2, 2010 14:46:01 GMT -4 @huntergrayson said:

heyalice - "The Big Sleep can wait. It's more famous for the chemistry of Bogie and Bacall on their first meet-up than anything else -- plus, the plot is so convoluted that even Raymond Chandler himself, who wrote the novel, admitted that he has no clue what's going on. Bogie does make a decent Marlowe but I say just save yourself the trouble and read Chandler instead. No film has ever quite gotten him right, IMO.

Not to nitpick, but The Big Sleep wasn't their first hook-up. Their first film was To Have and Have Not which I absolutely love. It's often looked down on as a Casablanca knock-off, but I think it's fun in its own right and Bogie and Bacall really smoked up the screen. I saw it on TV on my 13th birthday and, while I'd already seen quite a few classic films, THaHN was the one that really set me off on an old-movie kick. But you're right. TBS too convoluted and their chemistry is what saves it.

And The Lady Eve is one of my favorites as well. No matter how many times I watch the scene with the horse, I laugh. Barbara Stanwyck was brilliant at playing the bad girl who wasn't quite so bad in the end. What was that line she says to Henry Fonda's character? "The good girls aren't as good as you think they are and the bad girls aren't as bad."

I've never been able to decide between The Philadelphia Story and High Society. The writing and acting on TPS are much better, in my opinion, but I usually have more fun watching HS. It definitely wasn't Grace Kelly's best performance, but I always get a kick out of Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in their song together. My grandfather introduced me to Bing Crosby albums when I was still an infant. I'm a sucker for musicals.