If I Were Free(1933). Director: Elliott Nugent. Cast: Irene Dunne, Clive Brook, Nils Asther, Henry Stephenson, Vivian Tobin, Tempe Pigott, Lorraine MacLean, Laura Hope Crews, Halliwell Hobbes.
While in Paris,English lawyer Hector Stribling convinces Gordon Evers, also a lawyer, to forget about his divorce and join him and his wife Jewel for dinner with Tono Casanove and his wife Sarah. When Gordon and the Striblings arrive at the home of the Casanoves', they learn that Tono, is having an affair and planning a vacation in Cannes, with his new girl friend.
Heartbroken, Sarah thinks about committing suicide, but.. is stopped by Gordon, who suggests that she move to London. She agrees.. and after a short time in London, opens a little antique shop.
After a few months, Gordon asks Sarah if she would marry him if he "were free." Sarah meets Gordon's mother, Dame Evers, at her charity ball. Even though Dame Evers, likes her, she is concerned about the gossip surrounding their relationship..
Not having any of it, Gordon's wife Catherine, changes her mind about divorcing him, but... Sarah, stands her ground and refuses to end their relationship.
The trouble does not stop there, Sarah's ex- husband Tono, drops by her shop and threatens blackmail, unless Gordon buys some of his expensive antiques.
Hector, who is concerned over Gordon's failing health, convinces Sarah to end their relationship.
Unknown to Sarah and Hector, Gordon, who has a war-wound bullet lodged near his heart, has just learned that, unless he has a risky operation, he has only a year to live. When Gordon receives Sarah's "goodbye" note, he tells Hector about his condition, which causes Hector to confess that he was the one that talked Sarah into breaking it off with him.
Gordon decides to go ahead with the chancy operation and asks Hector not to tell Sarah. Just before the operation, Dame Evers, spills the beans to Sarah, who rushes to the hospital to be by Gordon's bedside. Will the operation be successful and will they live happily ever after?
Excellent acting performances by both Irene Dunne and Clive Brook. The quick dialogue keeps your interest in this soapy pre-code film. Wonderful performances are also given by the supporting performers: Henry Stephenson, Vivian Tobin, Laura Hope, Crewsand Tempe Pigott. Also, Silent film star Nils Asther, plays the role of Dunne's bad boy husband. His celebrity had begun to fade with the arrival of talking pictures. Classic movie fans may recognize an uncredited Halliwell Hobbes as Brook's butler.
Video: First of 7.
Nils Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981). Asther was adopted shortly after birth by a wealthy couple in Malmo, Sweden.
As a young man he moved to Stockholm, where he received acting lessons from famous star Augusta Lindberg, who also became his mistress, who was almost 30 years older than him. Through her, he received his first theatrical engagement at Lorensbergsteatern in Gothenburg, and in 1916 Mauritz Stiller cast him in, The Wings.
In 1927 he left for Hollywood, where his first film was, Topsy and Eva. The film also featured the Duncan Sisters, and in 1930 he married, Vivian Duncan, who gave him a daughter, Evelyn. By 1928 his good looks had made him into a leading man, playing opposite: Pola Negri, Marion Davies, Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, with whom he made two films.
With the arrival of sound in movies, Asther took voice lessons so as to minimize his accent, and was generally cast in roles where an accent wasn't a problem, such as the role as Chinese General Yen in, The Bitter Tea of General Yen.
Between 1935 and 1940 he was forced work in England after an alleged breach of contract led to a studio-based blacklist. There he made six films. He returned to Hollywood in 1940, and although he made another 19 films back up to 1949, his career wasn't the same as it used to be.
In the early 1950s he landed a few roles in minor TV shows. In 1958 he returned to Sweden, almost destitute. He managed to get an engagement with a local theatre and had four film roles in Sweden and Denmark, before finally giving up on acting in 1963 and devoting his time to his love of painting.
A Guy Named Joe(1943). Directed by Victor Fleming, produced by Everett Riskin, from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, adapted by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan from a story by Chandler Sprague and David Boehm. Cast: Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne and Van Johnson, with Esther Williams in a minor role. Musically, it featured the popular song "I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" by Fred Ahlert and Roy Turk, sung by Ms. Dunne. A Guy Named Joe was remade by Steven Spielberg in 1989 as Always with Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter and John Goodman, updating it to 1989 and exchanging the World War II backdrop to one of aerial firefighting.
The story begins with,"Dare Devil pilot" Pete Sandridge, commanding officer "Nails" Kilpatrick and cargo flyer Dorinda Durston, worried that someday their friends luck is going to run out.
After another dangerous flight, Nails, decides to transfer Pete and his best friend, pilot Al Yackey, to a quieter base in, Scotland. Dorinda, is not very happy about the transfer and half jokingly asks Pete to marry her.
It does not take long before, Pete and Al are bored with their new assignment and are more than happy to see Dorinda, when she flies in for a visit. She can not shake the feeling that Pete's "number is up." and begs Pete to accept Nails's, offer to become a flying instructor in America.
Pete initially rejects the idea, until she promises that she will give up flying, if he goes home, or she will transfer to Australia. Not wanting to lose her, he promises to take up Nails's offer. Al, comes in and tells Pete that they must leave to pick up a large German aircraft carrier.
On the flight, Pete does not take unnecessary chances, but.. is attacked by a German plane. After being wounded, he orders his crew to bail out, then crashes his plane onto the carrier. When Al returns to the base, Dorinda has already sensed that the love of her life is gone.
Meanwhile, Pete finds himself walking up in the clouds, when recognizes an old friend, Dick Rumney, who went down with his plane. Pete says "either I'm dead or I'm crazy," and Dick answers, "You're not crazy."Pete is then introduced to the General, who gives him the assignment to return to earth and share his knowledge with new flyers. Pete and Dick then go to a military flying school in Arizona, where Pete becomes a "ghost tutor" to wealthy Ted Randall. Pete, is not impressed with Ted, but.. as he guides him through training he becomes proud of him.
Dick and Pete's, flyers are sent to the South Pacific, their "ghost tutors" who hope to keep the men safe through combat, tag along. Soon after arriving, Ted goes to the local officers' club, with Pete following close behind. Pete sees Dorinda, sitting at a table and he goes to talk with her, but.. Ted, interrupts him to invite her to dinner. At first she turns him down, but.. encouraged by Al, she accepts.
Both Dorinda and Ted, notice the many odd similarities between Ted and Pete. When Ted is promoted to captain, he proposes to Dorinda and she accepts.
Dorinda, is visited by Pete, who advises her, through her subconscious, to marry Ted. Soon after, Ted stops by to inform her of his next assignment to destroy a Japanese ammunition dump in the South Pacific. She still thinking about Sam, tells him.. that she can not marry him.
When she learns that Ted, will be flying on an extremely dangerous mission, she rushes to the airbase and sneaks into his plane and takes off. Wanting to protect her, Pete sits behind her during the mission. Will he be able to keep her safe from the enemy?
Fun Facts:
There was no way to composite Spencer Tracy's image into the scenes where Van Johnson is flying, so he actually had to be standing behind Johnson and, later, Irene Dunne for the filming of these scenes. The same approach was used for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (techniques for superimposing one image onto another were not invented until much later).
The War Department initially did not approve the script, fearing psychological damage to new and experienced pilots and their parents. It relented after 2 revisions and promised full cooperation.
This picture was featured as MGM's big Christmas spectacular of 1943.
The General, played by Lionel Barrymore, wears the Medal of Honor ribbon on his uniform, but the ribbon is displayed upside down (the five stars forming a "W" instead of an "M"). Interestingly, James Doolittle also wore the Medal of Honor ribbon upside down, leading some to ask if there might be an aviation connection .
Along with Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne insisted the film's production be halted until Van Johnson was well after his auto accident, in which he was seriously injured. During this period, MGM snatched Dunne up to make The White Cliffs of Dover, released the following year as the MGM 20th Anniversary film. As a thank you for her gratitude, Johnson appears in a small role in 'Dover.'
Van Johnson was critically injured in an automobile accident on 31 March 1943 and MGM was set to replace him, but Spencer Tracy insisted that they shoot around him during his convalescence. Johnson didn't return to work until the first week in July of 1943, more than three months later.
Reportedly Steven Spielberg's favorite movie, he remade it in 1989 as Always. The remake included the three main characters (Pete Sandich, Durinda Durston and Al Yackey), plus the characters of "Ted" and "Nails."
Irene Dunne was actually eighteen years older than her love interest, Van Johnson.
This is one of my favorite Spencer Tracey movies, Irene Dunne, is also at her best here. I also think one of Van Johnson's best performances. If you've never seen "A Guy Named Joe," I strongly recommend it with a box of Kleenex.
Ward Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960), attended the University of Southern California and played football and was a starting lineman on USC's first national championship team in 1928. Bond and John Wayne, who as Marion Morrison had played tackle for USC in 1926 before an injury ended his career, became lifelong friends. Bond, Wayne and the entire Southern Cal team were hired to appear in Salute (1929), a football film starring George O'Brien and directed by John Ford. It was during the filming of this movie that Bond and Wayne became friendly with Ford, and both actors would perform in many of Ford's later films.
Bond made his screen debut in Salute, and thereafter played over 200 supporting roles, rarely playing the lead in film, until starring in the television series.. Wagon Train from 1957 until his death in 1960.
He was frequently typecast as a friendly policeman or as a brutal thug. He had a long-time working relationship with directors John Ford and Frank Capra, performing in such films as: The Searchers, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Quiet Man, and Fort Apache for Ford, with whom he made 25 films, and It Happened One Night and It's a Wonderful Life for Capra.
Some of his other well-known film: Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), They Were Expendable (1945), Joan of Arc (1948), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Big Trail, which also featured John Wayne's first leading role. It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and The Searchers (1956).
Bond has also been in 11 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, which may be more than any other actor: Arrowsmith (1931/32), Lady for a Day (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Sergeant York (1941), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), The Quiet Man (1952) and Mister Roberts (1955).
He performed with With John Wayne in the films: The Searchers (1956),Rio Bravo (1959). The Wings of Eagles (1957), The Searchers (1956), Rookie of the Year (TV drama 1955). Hondo (1953), The Quiet Man (1952), Operation Pacific (1951), Fort Apache (1948), 3 Godfathers (1948), They Were Expendable (1945), Dakota (1945), Tall in the Saddle (1944), The Shepherd of the Hills (1941), The Long Voyage Home (1940), Conflict (1936), and The Big Trail (1930).
Rumor has it that... country singer Johnny Horton died in an automobile accident while driving to see Bond at a hotel in Dallas to discuss a possible role in the fourth season of Wagon Train. Although Horton was indeed killed in a car crash at 1:30 a.m. on November 5, 1960, and Bond died from a massive heart attack at noon that same day, the two events were unrelated.
Horton was really on his way from Austin to Shreveport, Louisiana, not Dallas. Bond was in Dallas to attend a football game. Bond was 57 at the time of his death; John Wayne gave the eulogy at his funeral. Bond's will bequeathed to Wayne the shotgun with which Wayne had once accidentally shot Bond.
For his contribution to the television industry, Bond has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6933 Hollywood Blvd. In 2001, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. There is also a Ward Bond Memorial Park in his birthplace of Benkelman, Nebraska.
130. (05 Jul) The Mudlark (1951, Jean Negulesco) 34
Extravagant makeup effects transform Irene Dunne and Alec Guinness into Queen Victoria and Benjamin Disraeli. Neither really outshines the physical change, giving performances so low-key as to be considered dull. The same principle applies to the film's Oscar-nominated costumes. Victorian era clothing could scarcely look more unremarkable in black-and-white. Dunne and Guinness are both often dressed in all black, their outfits photographing without a hint of detail. Everything else looks like something from summer stock. The plots about a waif and young lovers fall totally flat.
I can say that Janet Gaynor is very good as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester but I can't say that she really is great. She's very charming, she's very loveable but the limits of her role prevented her from being truly outstanding in this part. As I said, she's really enjoyable but I couldn't help wanting a little bit more. It's lacking work but a good one, at least.
This is a great performance and I can really understand thos who love it but I also understand the arguments against it. Still, Luise Rainer gives a very loveable and truly great performance as O-Lan which may not be for the ages but it is certainly very memorable and its emotional nature is truly impressive. Well done work with some incredible moments by a great actress.
I have to say that Garbo really succeeded in creating a very complex and likeable character and a great performance despite the fact that she obviously has her flaws. Still, Garbo's luminous presence and wonderful personality might make up for the weaker sequences. Overall, it's a great performance that I really liked, I am still feeling a bit strange about her.
This is the weakest one of Barbara's nominated performances but I still really loved her performance as Stella Dallas. Although the character is quite unlikely and even a little bit confusing, Barbara makes her so entertaining in a very weird way. I can't explain why I liked her this much but I was really blown away by some of the scenes.
When I almost gave up on 1937, along came Irene Dunne to charm me with this incredible performance as Lucy Warriner. Not only does she give, what I consider one of the funniest performances ever, but she also breaks your heart a little bit as you really start to care about Lucy and her life. It's really incredible work and it's 100% right what Cary Grant said about Irene.
So I can proudly announce
that my winner is...
Irene Dunne
in
The Awful Truth
Ready for your speech?
Final thoughts: A good year but not a great one. Irene was an easy winner and the ranking of the nominees was incredibly easy. Only Irene was truly fantastic but Barbara was really-really close to that. Garbo might have even inspired Maria Callas with this role but she left me a little bit colder. Luise was very nice but not enough and the same goes for Janet Gaynor. Overall, I liked this year but it wasn't outstanding in any way. Plus, I had to say goodbye to Barbara Stanwyck as I've written about all of her nominated performances and that makes me really sad. :(
The ranking of the reviewed years:
1944
1969
1974
1989
1959
2006
1996
1964
1939
1977
2010
1997
2009
1980
1941
1972
1963
1966
1973
1983
1937
1990
1978
1954
1948
2002
1957
1940
1998
About the next year: Wow, I looked for a special year to celebrate the first anniversary of the reviews and I found it. But before that, I'm doing a less special but interesting year. It's gonna be incredibly obvious after the clue :):
Irene Dunne received her third Best Actress nomination for playing Lucy Warriner, a woman going through one of the funniest divorces in the history of movies in the Best Picture nominated classic comedy, The Awful Truth. It's such a scandal that Irene Dunne never won an Oscar, not even an Honorary one. With Barbara Stanwyck and Garbo they actually had the courage to admit having been crazy that they hadn't gave them awards. Dunne, however, was cheated in every possible way. I think she got closest to winning with I Remember Mama and The Awful Truth. I think she received many votes from Academy members and she might even have got ahead of Garbo though that's not very probable.
What can you expect from a movie in which two of your all-time favorite performers star? LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! The Awful Truth is one of my absolute favorite movies and the reason for it is that it has terrific actors giving terrific performances, a brilliant director, a great script and fabulous lines. I wish there were comedies like this nowadays and we wouldn't have to laugh at things like The Hangover (which is BTW good). The Best Director Oscar was richly deserved and it's a shame that the movie didn't win every award it was nominated for and that Cary Grant wasn't even nominated. Shame. I mean people love and remember this movie and what about The Life of Émile Zola?
Irene Dunne is a delightful presence and I love her so much. No matter what she does, she can't go wrong (OK, I had my problems with I Remember Mama) and I love that she could play any role. She could be a Sunday school teacher writing sexy novels, a caring mother, a heartbroken lover or you name it. In each and every role of hers you can observe what I call the Irene Dunne radiation, which can have fatal effects on you because you can easily get addicted to her and then you just can't get enough of her. I remember that after watching Love Affair, I watched two other movies of hers in a row. As you see, I'm a fan.
But if you're a huge fan, you get to worry if you dislike a certain performance of a favorite. And you're terrified if you don't like a performance that much for a second time. Ever since I saw her in The Awful Truth for the first time, I announced it to the whole world everywhere how brilliant she was. No imagine what a slap in the face it could have been if I hadn't liked her this time. However, it is a could have.I shouldn't have worried. She was just as good, if not better than the first time.
One word sums up this performance the best: laughter. Irene laughs, Cary laughs, you laugh. It's just fantastic how much laughter you can experience. Irene shows several ones: giggling, chukling, cackling and all of them are just brilliant. Just imagine the scene where Lucy gives a concert and Jerry falls with his chair. Irene's laugh after the song is so brilliantly timed and its so damn funny. She gradually cracked me up. First, I was smiling when Cary Grant fell, then I started laughing and when Irene laughed I almost died.
I must also mention Irene's brilliant singing. She could play with her voice so well and that's so immensely cool. I must say, though, that Irene's whole performance is very colorful and playful. I didn't feel that any of her work was forced or planned. Naturally, she was confident but this only helped her. She let herself go and played along with her co-stars and yet she held herself back from looking like an idiot. I think it was incredibly difficult to find the perfect balance with this character. Lucy is not a complicated personality but playing her is a very complicated and tricky task. Just imagine someone less talented than Irene as Lucy. It would have been a total disaster. I picture a remake (God forbid!) with for example Jennifer Aniston as Lucy. She's a good comedienne but I could never imagine her delivering the lines like Irene.
And yes, those line readings are brilliant. When Ralph Bellamy says he can't sleep at nights because he's so in love with her, Irene asks why doesn't he try hot milk. That's one of the funniest lines ever.
If you think that nothing funnier could come, there comes the scene where Lucy plays Jerry's sister. And Irene reaches the real highlight of her performance. That's the top and she just cannot go further, she reached the stars with this role. Moreover, the little drama that she adds to Lucy is also fantastic and it just makes her work even more amazing.
When I almost gave up on 1937, along came Irene Dunne to charm me with this incredible performance as Lucy Warriner. Not only does she give, what I consider one of the funniest performances ever, but she also breaks your heart a little bit as you really start to care about Lucy and her life. It's really incredible work and it's 100% right what Cary Grant said about Irene: "Her timing was marvelous. She was good that she made comedy look easy. If she'd made it look as difficult as it really is, she would have won her Oscar".
What do you think? Time for your last predictions!
A fantastic looking year. All five of them are interesting in their ways and I can't wait to take a closer look at them. Unfortunately, this will be the last reviewed performance of the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck, so I'll write her review last. I'm curious about how I will react to Rainer, Dunne and especially Garbo for the second time and if I'll like Gaynor more than Garland. We'll see.
Could Barbara gain another win from me or will it be someone else? What's your ranking? What's going to be my ranking? The predicting contest is naturally on.
About the field: This was a legendary year for Best Picture and pretty great for Best Actress. And I can say this very easily. I was so happy to (re-)watch these performances and movies. I liked them all, though sometimes I was a bit disappointed as that nominee is praised everywhere. So that was the only disappointing thing here, but that performance grew on me a bit. My #5 may not have belonged to this category, but actually there wasn't any other Best Actress performance I would have nominated instead of her. #4 was very good, though a bit uneven, I was mesmerized by #2 and #1 (big surprise) REALLY blew my socks off. This was one of the easiest rankings so far, though I believed (before starting) that it would be much more difficult. But let's just see the results (which are not surprising if you read my reviews):
This was a heartwarming and charming performance, which wasn't full of opportunities, but Garson did her best in my opinion and was able to show her immense charisma for the first time on screen. Leading or supporting? Doesn't really matter.
This performance is also quite unusual as it basically consists of two different performances.I can say that I was impressed by Garbo once again and she gave an excellent performance full of charm, humor and her grabbing persona.
I saw a performance that disappointed me to a degree (mostly because the movie is so horrid), but there are extremely strong scenes so I really cannot say that I did not enjoy it (and it considerably grew on me). I did not find her as great as everyone else, but she's quite good.
In a movie, which was her personal favorite, Dunne was able to create a lively, charming, emotional and lovely performance, which might be a bit slow for others, but I was a total sucker for this one. Excellent, intelligent work.
Do I need to explain this? We can be grateful for the miracle that was born on-screen 71 years ago. I could go on and on, I could write a novel as long as Gone with the Wind itself about her, but I just wrap up by saying that I was overwhelmed, entertained, delighted, amazed, moved, amused and mesmerized by Vivien Leigh.
So I can proudly announce
that my winner is (hands down)...
Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind
Tears of a WINNER! :-)
So the ranking of the already reviewed years:
1974
1959
1939
2009
1963
1978
1948
2002
1940
1998
So my next year: I thought it would be very uncertain and I had more years to pick from after all, but somehow life decided it for me. This year is very often talked about but mostly only two of the nominees (especially one). So the clues:
#1 hated loss
Far From Heaven: The Origin
Deglam forever!
I think huge fans found it out from the first clue immediately. :-)
My darling Irene Dunne received her fourth Best Actress nomination for playing Terry, a woman in love in Love Affair, the original version of the 1957 romantic classic, An Affair to Remember. Poor Irene Dunne, she never won an Oscar, she deserved so much and not even an Honorary Oscar. It's a funny world we live in: Reese Witherspoon is an Oscar-winner and Dunne never got an award. Shame. I think she had the least chance of winning in this year as she was a serious threat to win in her other years (particularly 1937 and 1948). I guess she was fourth after all.
Love Affair is an excellent and entertaining love story, which was really so natural and enjoyable that I loved the most of it. The second part of the movie is a bit rushed though, I think they could have told something more about these characters. This is not a real complaint actually, as I liked the movie as it was, but it could have lasted a bit longer since I wanted more of the joy. Charles Boyer was a brilliant actor (it's so awful that he's a bit forgotten nowadays) and he proved it here once again. Maria Ouspenskaya deserved her Oscar nom, but a win would have been much. I can say the same about the movie.
And Irene Dunne. In a way. While I was watching Love Affair, I became a real fan of Ms. Dunne. Actually, I had previously seen only two of her films. I loved her in The Awful Truth (her best performance and I am really loud with this opinion in the blogosphere LOL), but I felt a bit neutral toward her in I Remember Mama (but that was actually the movie's fault). Right now, I am proud to say that I'm an official Irene Dunne fan and I am going to watch as many of her films as I can.
But since this blog is not an Irene Dunne fanclub, I have to talk about her performance in Love Affair. And she's (once again) simply wonderful and has a very magnetic and charming presence. From the very beginning to the very last scene I was in love with her: everything was so right, so lovely, so enchanting, so adorable, so emotional.
This performance very successfully combines the technical and the emotional part. I was totally mesmerized by her sometimes and although I thought sometimes that she wasn't that amazing, she totally grew on me in a couple of minutes(!). I needed a little bit of time to fully appreciate her very intelligent and subtle acting.
She took this very simple and ordinary character and she created an effective mix with which she totally amazed me. I always felt that behind the smiling face of Terry there was some deep bitterness, but also so much hope for a better, calm life with a man with whom she can share her feelings and secrets. It's so heartbreaking to see her trying to be a mother of the orphans as she does not have children. Again, her eyes tell everything we need to know.
Another amazing thing about this performance is that Dunne is never too sentimental or soappy. She could so easily hold herself back in the dangerous scenes (most of her peers should have learned from her example). I love that Irene Dunne was always able to control a performance and show the real face of her character (and by this she also might sacrifice the big impact).
Her chemistry with Charles Boyer is simply perfect: they just look so well together that you instantly think that this is a match made in Heaven. Oh yes, that's the romantic side of me, but the merciless critic is impressed in me too. I have never been afraid to criticize popular performances or to express my fondness of least loved achievements. I am not saying this to hail myself, but to show Dunne's brilliance. There wasn't doubt in me for a second that I would not like her.
In a movie, which was her personal favorite, Dunne was able to create a lively, charming, emotional and lovely performance, which might be a bit slow for others, but I was a total sucker for this one. She's just becomes better and better as I think about her. Excellent, intelligent work.
So what do you think? You cannot officially predict now, but if you have any thoughts or observations or questions, please share it. The final conclusion is soon to come.
Now we are moving along with the next year, which is said to be the best year of movies ever. So it's quite understandable that I can't wait to see the performances and the films. Let's just start 1939.
1939
So the nominees were:
Bette Davis in Dark Victory
Irene Dunne in Love Affair
Greta Garbo in Ninotchka
Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr Chips
Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind*
So what are your predictions? Even I don't know what it will look like as I have seen only two of them. We'll see. I'm quite excited.
About the field: Well, this year turned out to be way better than I expected. However I must say that my ranking looks much different than I thought it would be. I'm most shocked at my #5 as I expected her to become my pick. Nevertheless I can say that I saw two mindblowing, one great and two very good performances, so I can conclude that this was a rich and versatile year, which I really enjoyed. My ranking wasn't that easy, because there was some competition for #1, but in the end my pick was obvious. So now it's time to see the ranking
5. Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc Another unpopular and not talked about performance that I was impressed by. Her last huge scene left a huge impact on me and I simply loved her You can hate Ingrid in this, you can hate me for this, but it doesn't change anything.
4. Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit She's courageous, charming and yet far from amazing or very memorable. I think that this performance might grow on me, but now I'm disappointed. Had I not heard that much about her, I would have been satisfied, but this way I'm feeling a bit awkward.
Irene Dunne gave a heartwarming, lovable performance which definitely had it's flaws but it did not bother me for her strong presence attracted my attention all the way. Great work, which had amazing moments in it.
2. Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda I saw a great performance, which aged well and was much better for the second time. My admiration has dropped a bit in time but I still have to admit how great she is in this movie. Very good and memorable work.
I can honestly say that I was very-very impressed and that I saw one of Stanwyck's finest works, which completely grabbed my attention from start to finish mainly caused by Stanwyck's dexterity with emotions. A fascinating character study.
So my winner for this year is... Barbara Stanwyck in
Sorry, Wrong Number Barbara has just found out. :D
So now I've finished this very exciting year. So now it's time to move on. Unfortunately I can only start it in a week (precisely on Monday, 16th August). But naturally, I give you clues as usual, which will be TOO easy this time.
Beloved actress Irene Dunne received her fifth (and last) nomination in the Best Actress category for playing Martha, a strong-willed and loving Norwegian mother raising her children in San Fransisco in the movie I Remember Mama. Jane Wyman said once that she herself thought that Irene Dunne was going to win the Oscar. And that makes sense: it was her fifth unsuccesful nomination, she had many friends in the industry and she had many imporant factors on her side. I'm just pissed that she lost for The Awful Truth, gosh she was so great in that (yes, I have seen the others).
I Remember Mama is a bit sentimental and yet touching little American movie about a nice, loveable family with whom you can easily identify and about whom you really care. The movie itself received five nominations (four of them in acting categories). The three performances which got the noms are not very outstanding to tell the truth: Oskar Homolka gives a very over-the-top performance which is occasionally quite annoying, Ellen Corby gets nearly nothing to do, but she's not that bad. Barbara Bel Geddes is the finest of the three, however when I look at her always Miss Ellie comes to my mind (here in Hungary Dallas was unbelievably popular).
Irene Dunne whom I adore, love and everything is not at the top of her game either unfortunately. In short we can say: she gives a very lovable and enjoyable performance, however she was not able to have a lasting effect on me. But if we look at the role (and her performance) we can easily see why she was the front-runner and why she gets so much love for this movie. The character of the lovely, self-sacrificing mother has always been very popular among the people and that also includes the members of the Academy (a fine example is Sandy Bullock's win this year). The audience loves mums in movies, because they remind them of their own mother and by this they love the actual actress.
First of all, the technical part of the performance is not very well worked on. I don't care about the accents, but even I noticed how exagerrated her Norwegian accent was. This is very surprising (or rather shocking) as Irene Dunne always nailed the technical part. Here she simply decided to be only lovely and rely on the emotions. She constantly (and desperately) wants to get the sympathy of the audience and her character became way too perfect and angelic, I actually couldn't believe that she was an actual person.
Her singing scene at the hospital is considered to be very moving and although I liked it to a degree, it did not really warm my stone heart. I felt so indifferent towards all of the characters and that unfortunately did not include Ms. Dunne. Too bad, however I would not really say that I was very disappointed, because I really did not have any expectations, actually I expected a good, but very sentimental performance, which I got ironically. So now I would not say that I'm bitter like I was with Olivia. I just feel this neutrality.
Towards the end of the movie however there are scenes where Irene Dunne gets some opportunities to shine and show her very radiant personality. First of all, when her uncle is dying, she's just excellent. She does not have much to do, but she says a lot in her silence. It's very moving where she decides to show the dead body to her daughter so that she wasn't terrified of death. There my indifference started to fade away and the sympathy for which Dunne so desperately worked was born in me. I really felt then that Martha was a breathing, living human being.
Another great moment is her chat with the famous writer to whom she shows her daughter's stories. Her loveliness shone through the screen and she quite impressed me right there. It's interesting her performance started mediocre but ended in total greatness. I'm always greatly influenced by the ending for if the end is good I can get over some mistakes. However, if it's not satisfying, I cannot forgive it. Fotunately, Dunne belongs to the former.
So to sum up, I can say that Irene Dunne gave a heartwarming, lovable performance which definitely had it's flaws but it did not bother me for her strong presence attracted my attention all the way. In time it grew on me so much that I only have positive memories about it and she still warms up my heart if I think about her.
Now it's time to give me your very final predictions and of course I'm waiting for your opinions,thoughts too. With this year I seem to disagree with most of the people so far but we'll see in the end. To see this movie click here.
Hi everyone, I'm back from my vacation so now it's time to go on with our next year, which is (as you all guessed well) 1948. I don't know either how my ranking will look like as I only saw the winner, but I can give links to ALL of the movies. On forums this year is mostly talked about because of the performances of de Havilland and Wyman, however I can pick anyone, so let's just start it. I think I'll see at least two excellent performances and naturally I'm waiting for your preditions.
1937 was a miracle year for director Leo McCarey, helming two of the greatest movies ever made and winning the Oscar for Best Director for the screwball comedy “The Awful Truth.”
“The Awful Truth” is a comedy gem that still holds up wonderfully today. McCarey’s other effort, “Make Way for Tomorrow”, is a shattering drama of elderly parents and their children’s responsibility to care for them. It’s every bit as relevant today as it was in 1937, if not more so.
Upon receiving his Oscar, McCarey famously thanked the Academy but told them he received it for the wrong movie. And he’s right. “Make Way for Tomorrow” is a stunning movie on every level, one which pulls no punches and refuses to sentimentalize its situations. Orson Welles called “Make Way for Tomorrow” the saddest movie ever made and said it could make a stone cry. Its recent DVD issue on the Criterion label is the best news for movie fans in many a moon.
In addition to its director, “The Awful Truth” and “Make Way for Tomorrow” share the same co-writer Vina Delmar. According to the Peter Bogdanovich interview on the “Make Way for Tomorrow” DVD, McCarey saw the very attractive Delmar on the lot and asked her out. She rebuffed him. A while later, he heard about this young writer who would be a perfect collaborator for him on “Make Way for Tomorrow.” Who walks in but the woman he tried to woo. They laughed about it and became good friends and collaborated later that year on “The Awful Truth.”
Make Way for Tomorrow
But “Make Way for Tomorrow” came first and what a jewel it is. Apart from the costumes it could have been made yesterday. “Pa” Barkley and “Ma” Lucy Cooper (Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) have been married for more than 50 years. In the film’s opening scene, they announce to their gathered children that because Pa hasn’t worked in several years, they are losing their home. The grown children need to adjust their lives to make new arrangements for their parents. Pa goes to live with one of the daughters while Ma goes to live 150 miles away with her favorite son George (Thomas Mitchell), his wife Anita (Fay Bainter) and teenage daughter Rhoda (Barbara Read). The arrangements are thought to be only temporary until something permanent can be arranged.
The beauty of “Make Way for Tomorrow” is its realism. While Pa and Ma Barkeley are likeable, they’re also stubborn and are a handful to their children. Anita blows up her mother-in-law in a scene which is painful to watch. We can feel for Anita, though, even though we hope she can cut Ma some slack. But Ma has also exhibited thoughtless behavior on several occasions, without meaning to. No Hollywood false images here, just a realistic look at family dynamics.
We sympathize with the family’s plight yet still cringe when Ma comes into Anita’s bridge party and tries to engage in conversation with everyone while they’re trying to play bridge. Rhoda is soon embarrassed about bringing friends over because Ma wants to spend all their time talking to them. Soon Rhoda is meeting her friends outside of the home, including hints of an illicit relationship with an older man. (This leads to some kind of trouble but we’re not sure what).
Pa is cantankerous with his daughter and she starts snapping at him in ways she never would have before.
Eventually the temporary arrangements no longer work and the movie begins its ascent into cinematic nirvana. George is forced to move his mother into a retirement home and Pa will be moving across the country to be with another daughter in California. Ma and Pa spend one last day together before going their separate ways forever.
The people they meet on that last day together sense something special about the couple, and show great kindness to them. Isn’t this true, that we sometimes show more concern and compassion to others than we do our own family members? The Barkleys go back to the hotel where they spent their honeymoon, where they are treated with incredible thoughtfulness by the staff. Not in a maudlin sort of way, but in a very human way. (The scene where the hotel’s bandleader changes music from swing to a gentle waltz so Pa and Ma can dance together is one for the books.).
The final scene….more I will not say, but have lots of Kleenex available.
Moore is a revelation here. Best known for his comedy roles in movies like “Swing Time” (1936), he plays someone decades older than himself and does so spectacularly. Beulah Bondi was only 47 at the time but thanks to old age makeup, she is more than convincing in playing a woman who has been married for more than 50 years. They are amazing together.
The always reliable Thomas Mitchell has the pivotal role of the favorite son and the scene where he has to tell his mother he’s putting her in the home….wow. Very hard to watch and beautifully acted by Mitchell and Bondi.
Paramount had little faith in the movie and barely gave it any kind of publicity push. Who wants to see a movie about old people and their problems? It was not a success and laid relatively unknown save for those who retained fond memories of it and later McCarey scholars who screened the film at film festival showings.
Thanks to Criterion, the film is now available for all to enjoy. Show it to someone who thinks films of Hollywood’s Golden Age are all light, frivolous entertainment and have no relation to the real world. “Make Way for Tomorrow” does, and painfully so.
The Awful Truth
“The Awful Truth” is one of the wittiest comedies to come out of Hollywood’s Golden Age. It could be the gentlest movie ever made about divorce, partly because we know Jerry and Lucy Warriner (Cary Grant and Irene Dunne) really do love each other. (Even though the film does strongly suggest at the beginning they both engaged in affairs.)
Before the divorce is final, however, Jerry and Lucy do their best to sabotage the other’s new romances. It’s as if they subconsciously know they really won’t get divorced and are going to have a good time in the process.
How those sabotage activities take place is the centerpiece of the film. What makes “The Awful Truth” such an unending delight is there’s nothing mean spirited about it. Both Lucy and Jerry take great delight in each other’s chicanery and one upmanship. They’re each other’s best audience, and we’re the lucky bystanders.
For example, Jerry is oozingly polite to dim bulb Dan Leeson (an Oscar nominated Ralph Bellamy) as a rich rancher from Oklahoma visiting New York City with his mother (Esther Dale). Lucy accepts his offer of marriage (he’s so stable you know, unlike her soon to be ex-husband) and Jerry tells her how lucky she is to get out of New York City with its crowded streets, shops and show openings and settle down in Oklahoma City. “And if you ever get bored, you can always spend the weekend in Tulsa,” he tells her in the driest Cary Grant voice possible. . I saw this once at a revival screening and that line bought the house down. I bet they even laughed in Oklahoma.
Lucy reads in the paper of Jerry’s infatuation with heiress Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont) and shows up at one of Barbara’s dinner parties as Jerry’s eccentric sister from Paris. The final shot of this uproarious sequence offers one of my favorite Cary Grant moments. After Lucy’s impromptu singing of “Gone with the Wind” he escorts her away from Barbara and her family (he realizes the marriage will never take place) and bows to Lucy and the others, with an enormous grin on his face. It almost looks improvised. I’ve rarely seen Grant so relaxed and spontaneous.
“The Awful Truth” was nominated for Best Picture but lost to “The Life of Emile Zola.” The other nominations that year: “A Star is Born”; “Captains Courageous”; “Dead End”; “In Old Chicago”; “Lost Horizon”; “One Hundred Men and a Girl”; “Stage Door”; “The Good Earth.”
That’s an amazing list, and every one of those movies – every one - still offers first-rate entertainment, and are as wonderful now as they were more than 60 years ago. One can see why the Academy had to have 10 Best Picture nominees. Will the 10 Oscar-nominated films from last year (or this year) be as well remembered and loved? I sincerely doubt it.
A few weeks ago I wrote about the classic American screwball comedy ("An Unsuitable Attachment: The Classic American Screwball Comedy"). In that post I described the typical dilemma of the genre: a character must choose between two possible romantic interests who represent on the one hand safety and conformity and on the other hand risk and idiosyncrasy. In 1937, only three years after the original screwball comedy, It Happened One Night, was released, a movie came along that for me represents the apogee of the genre, The Awful Truth, starring Cary Grant and Irene Dunne and directed by Leo McCarey.
At the beginning of the movie the two main characters, Jerry (Cary Grant) and Lucy (Irene Dunne), the type of urban sophisticates who routinely populated the screwball comedies of the 1930's, are already married. Jerry, just returned from a trip to Florida, finds that in his absence Lucy has been enjoying herself with their friends and immediately notices that she seems to be receiving a great deal of attention—and returning it—from a suave Continental bachelor who has "gigolo" written all over him. His jealousy aroused, Jerry refuses to believe Lucy's protests that that her actions have been entirely innocuous. As the squabble between the two escalates, Lucy, dismayed and frustrated with her husband's lack of trust in her, files for divorce and the two separate.
In typical screwball fashion, each soon becomes attached to someone else. Lucy becomes engaged to a new neighbor, a rich oilman (and mother-dominated hick) from Oklahoma. This character, played by Ralph Bellamy, is in every way the opposite of Jerry—slow-witted, unsophisticated, and unimaginative. Jerry is at first desperate to win Lucy back before the divorce decree becomes final and does everything he can think of to sabotage her engagement, including becoming attached to an embarrassingly tawdry nightclub performer named Dixie Belle Lee in an effort to make Lucy jealous. When all his efforts fail, he gives up and becomes engaged to a dull and conventional heiress. It is just at this point that Lucy finally realizes that she still loves Jerry and that her oilman is all wrong for her. She breaks off her engagement and lays plans to get Jerry back. Her scheme succeeds with hilarious results and the two are reunited just before their divorce decree becomes final.
What makes The Awful Truth the definitive screwball comedy is not just its archetypal plot, which the brief synopsis above hardly does justice to. What really makes it special is its perfect confluence of star power, inspired direction, and tremendously entertaining situations. It is in this movie that the Cary Grant persona as moviegoers came to experience it over the next three decades emerged fully formed. Cary Grant had been working in movies for five years before making The Awful Truth, which was his thirtieth film credit. Yet seeing him in movies like Sylvia Scarlett (1936) or the two Mae West classics She Done Him Wrong or I'm No Angel (both 1933), one might find it hard to believe that this is the same actor. In The Awful Truth he is relaxed, urbane, slyly witty, subtly funny, slightly disreputable, everything that one associates with the screen personality "Cary Grant." The screen persona of the comic Cary Grant was born in this movie and continued with little alteration until he retired in the mid-1960's.
Like Grant, Irene Dunne was an experienced movie performer when she made The Awful Truth, but unlike Grant she was already a major star and two-time Academy Award nominee. She had appeared in just about every kind of Hollywood movie, from Westerns to musicals and especially ultrasentimental tearjerkers. She had a lovely soprano singing voice and an affinity for the songs of Jerome Kern, playing Magnolia in the 1936 version of Show Boat. Yet she had her first major comedy role, in Theodora Goes Wild, just the year before. In The Awful Truth she shows a real affinity for both sophisticated and physical comedy, and it's hard to imagine an actress who would have been so perfect as Lucy. At key moments she gives what I think of as the Irene Dunne reaction, a slightly vacant expression of wry surprise and disbelief that in its way is as distinctive as Grant's familiar recoiling, wide-eyed double-take. Her ability to balance, and sometimes to project simultaneously, conflicting emotions made her one of the most versatile and talented actresses of the studio era. Her seriousness in this movie is tempered with lightheartedness, and her whimsicality with restraint. Like Grant, her frustration is comic, and her comic behavior is a response to emotional turmoil. The interaction of these two actors makes it clear to the viewer that the characters they play are ideally suited to each other and that their notions of incompatibility are complete nonsense.
Those familiar with the later work of director Leo McCarey, swamped in heavy-handed sentimentality and a curiously outdated sensibility, might find it difficult to believe that he was responsible for The Awful Truth. In fact, McCarey had previously worked with many notable Hollywood comics, including Laurel and Hardy, W. C. Fields, Mae West, and Harold Lloyd. He was responsible for two of the funniest movies ever made, the Marx Brothers' zany Duck Soup (1933) and the delightful Ruggles of Red Gap (1935). The Awful Truth is masterfully directed, with a sure command of controlled comic invention and a light touch throughout. It is packed with clever sight gags and moments of restrained physical comedy that stop just short of farce. And as in the best movie comedies, these humorous bits always seem to grow from the plot and never to be arbitrarily imposed on it. For The Awful Truth McCarey won an Oscar as Best Director, an award that was well deserved.
Three sequences in the movie are especially memorable. Early on, Jerry and Lucy go to court to see who will get custody of their dog, Mr. Smith, played by the same fox terrier that played Asta in the Thin Man series. The judge decides that he will let the dog make the choice, and both Jerry and Lucy begin frantically calling him to come to them. But Lucy has a trick up her sleeve (or in this case up the muff she has carried into court): Mr. Smith's new toy, a ball shaped like a bulldog's head, which, without letting either Jerry or the judge see, she uses to get the dog to run to her. Mr. Smith is really Jerry's dog, so why is she so determined to get custody of him? Is she just being competitive, or is she unconsciously seeking a way to keep Jerry connected to her (he is awarded visiting rights)? Either way it's a very funny sequence, directed and performed with precision timing.
Later in the movie, Lucy hits upon a clever ruse to break up Jerry's engagement. She turns up at the swanky party Jerry's snobbish fiancée and future in-laws are giving on the very night that the divorce decree is to become final. Pretending to be Jerry's fictitious sister, Lola, she appears as a garishly dressed, bubble-headed lush, a professional singer clearly based on Dixie Belle. She pretends to get drunk and insists on performing the tasteless and risqué musical number she saw Dixie Belle do in the nightclub, correctly predicting that the humiliated Jerry will rush her out of the party and drive her home. To see the refined Lucy as performed by the refined Dunne cut loose like this, a departure into controlled slapstick so out of character for Lucy, is the high point of the movie. And to know that Lucy's gauche behavior is all a pretense just makes the whole episode all the more funny.
But Lucy's plot is not yet over. She contrives to have Jerry drive her to her aunt's country cabin instead of to her own apartment and further contrives for the car to break down so that they will be forced to spend their last night together as husband and wife in the remote cabin. What ensues is another bout of hilariously restrained slapstick that involves adjoining bedrooms, a connecting door that refuses to stay shut, and a mechanical clock with male and female figures (actually Grant and Dunne in Alpine costumes on a huge mock-up of the clock) emerging from and returning to separate doors as the clock ticks away to midnight, when the divorce decree becomes final.
Will Jerry give in to temptation and sleep in Lucy's room, which will invalidate the divorce decree? Will she let him? Of course, but not until they have negotiated a truce. The suspicion and jealousy that wrecked their relationship will be banished; their renewed marriage will be based on the principle of mutual trust. Theirs will be a modern marriage in the style of Nick and Nora Charles, one of partnership combined with independence. Just as the mechanical clock strikes midnight the two figures emerge from their separate compartments, but this time they both return to hers, an ingenious sight gag concocted by McCarey not only to skirt Production Code issues but to indicate visually the reconciliation of Jerry and Lucy.
I had an exceptionally good week of weekend movie watching. The constant rain and enveloping dampness in Chicago meant it was a good opportunity to hunker down with some good movie viewing.
“Anna and the King of Siam” (1946) is the non-musical version of the famous story made even more famous by the Broadway musical and film “The King and I.” This is a marvelous film, despite the politically incorrect casting of Rex Harrison, in his American film debut, as the King of Siam. It’s a hoot to hear the famous “etc., etc., etc.” lines uttered by someone other than Yul Brynner. Irene Dunne plays Anna, and her warm presence and gentle beauty make for a memorable Anna, every bit as good as later interpretations by Deborah Kerr and Jodie Foster. (It really is an unbeatable part. The worst actress in the world couldn’t screw it up.) Linda Darnell plays Tuptim, and she’s not nearly as sympathetic as I remember from earlier versions. She isn’t given much to do, but she’s fine. It’s eerie to watch her being burned at the stake because in real life she had a mortal fear of fire, and ironically, died in a burning house while visiting friends in Glenview, IL. She was only 41.
This is a wonderful film to look and listen to. The Oscar-nominated score by Bernard Herrmann is a treat to listen to and helps act as a guide to the exotic locales. The film deservedly won Academy Awards in the Art Direction/Black and White and Cinematography/Black and White categories.
It’s a little overlong, but packed with detail and story. It runs 128 minutes and when you consider that “The King and I” (1956) ran 133 minutes, and since much of that is devoted to musical numbers, you can see where “Anna and the King of Siam” is able to allow for more incidents.
Rating for “Anna and the King of Siam”: Three and a half stars.
One of my favorite films of 2005 was David Cronenberg’s “A History of Violence”, the dark, disturbing, graphic and morbidly funny saga of a small town diner owner Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) in Indiana who foils a robbery in his diner and becomes a mini celebrity. This attracts the attention of mobster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) who knows Stall is really Joey Cusack, former enforcer for the Philadelphia mob. The effects this, and other revelations this has on his family, are equal parts horrifying, funny and heartbreaking. The film’s final scene is wonderfully ambiguous. William Hurt was Oscar-nominated for his wonderfully nutty scenes as a gangster, but I think Ed Harris should have gotten the Supporting Actor nomination. His one eyed Carl Fogarty is one of the scariest villains I’ve ever seen.
Rating for “A History of Violence”: Four stars.
A glorious slice of cinematic cheese is “Snakes on a Plane” (2006). You see a movie with a title like that, and you get exactly what you pay for. A combination airplane disaster movie with hundreds of lethal snakes, this is a perfect movie to put your brain on hold, throw all logic out the window, and enjoy the show. I wish there had been more actual snakes used instead of the CGI variety, as the real thing is always more effective, but this is still stupid (in the best sense) Saturday night fodder. It’s fortunate that Samuel L. Jackson is on hand to lend his particular brand of charisma to the proceedings. If ever I’m in a situation where all hell is breaking loose, I want Sam on my side, especially now that Chuck Heston is no longer with us.
Rating for “Snakes on a Plane”: Three stars.
The best movie I’ve seen is ages is “Tokyo Story” (1953), an unforgettable experience that works on many levels. My foreign film viewing is not as strong as it should be, and I’ve never seen a film directed by Yasujiro Ozu, revered by many as one of the greatest directors of all time, and rivaling Akira Kurosawa as Japan’s greatest director.
TCM ran “Tokyo Story” several months ago, and because it’s considered Ozu’s masterpiece, I taped it for later viewing. I didn’t have the opportunity to watch it until Sunday night and when I did…Wow! What a revelation!
“Tokyo Story” runs 135 minutes and I was spellbound from beginning to end. Reading the plot description might make you think there could be no worst ways to spend 135 minutes but you’d be wrong.
The movie is about an elderly couple who decide to visit their grown children in Tokyo, but they are too busy with their own lives to make time for their parents.
Yep, no action, no mob, no snakes on a plane, just a human drama acted and shot to perfection. No fancy camera moves or effects, just watching the heartbreak of generational indifference. Because they’re Japanese, the characters are very stoic and don’t say what they mean, but what they don’t say, and their body language, speaks volumes.
This was a profoundly moving experience, and one that I actually dreamed about that night. It will be a long time before I forget “Tokyo Story” and I now look forward with the keenest of anticipations to seeing other Ozu films.
