Happy Birthday: Natalie Wood.

Natalie Wood (July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981). Fun Fact: Favorite actress was Vivien Leigh. Favorite singer was Bob Dylan.
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Penelope(1966).

Penelope(1966). Comedy directed by Arthur Hiller. Cast: Natalie Wood, Ian Bannen, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters and Dick Shawn.

The story begins when Penelope, lonely and wanting to get her banker husband James, attention.  Dresses herself up as a sweet old lady and holds up her husband's bank for $60,000.

She then goes to the ladies' room, changing into a yellow suit, as she leaves she informs the guards that a little old lady with a gun is in the ladies' room, and quickly leaves the bank. Then heads straight for her ninkapoop of a psychiatrist, Gregory Mannix and confesses that she is kleptomania.

As luck would have it, one of the banks cameras has photographed the crime and caught a glimpse of a woman wearing yellow suit leaving the bank.

Police Lieutenant Bixbee, who is charmed by Penelope, suspects her after he notices that the little old lady and the yellow suited woman caught on camera, have the same walk as she does. Penelope, gives the yellow suit to a thrift shop and it is purchased by Sadaba, who runs a boutique.

Sadaba, learns the truth about the suit and she and her partner, Ducky, try to blackmail Penelope. Penelope confesses to Dr. Mannix, who goes to return the money through the bank's night deposit box and leaves the money sticking out of the box.

Penelope, confesses the truth when a streetwalker who finds the money is accused of the robbery, but.. will anyone believe her?

The photography in this film is absolutely gorgeous and it fun to see Natalie, wearing the styles of the mid-1960's, designed by Edith Head..

Norma Crane (November 10, 1928 — September 28, 1973) was an actress of stage, film and television. Among her best known roles was that of Golde in the 1971 film adaptation of Fiddler on the Roof. She also starred in They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and Penelope.

Splendor in the Grass (1961).

After performing in, the movie flop, Fine Young Cannibals. Wood's career was saved by her wonderful performance in one of my favorite movies, Splendor in the Grass (1961)with Warren Beatty. The story is about a teen-aged girl living in a small town in Kansas in 1928, who tries follows her mother's advice of not giving into her boyfriend. Bud, follows the advice of his father, who suggests that he find another kind of girl.

Bud's parents are heartbroken, with his older sister Ginny, who is promiscuous, smokes and drinks while pressuring Bud to attend Yale University.

Bud does find a girl and when Deanie finds out, she is driven out of her mind and institutionalized. Bud's family loses its fortune in the Great Depression, which is the down fall of the family. Natalie's performance in this film earned her, Best Actress Nominations at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.

Fun Fact:

Film debuts of Warren Beatty, Sandy Dennis, Phyllis Diller, Marla Adams and Eugene Roche.

I always loved Natalie Wood and felt that there was a real chemistry between her and Warren Beatty. Natalie Wood, gives one of her a strongest performance that tells the story of a great love of a life time.

Sex and the Single Girl(1964).

Sex and the Single Girl(1964). Comedy directed by Richard Quine. Cast: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall and Mel Ferrer. The film was inspired by the title of the 1962 non-fiction book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown.

Bob Weston, editor of a scandal magazine writes an eye opening article about research psychologist, Helen Gurley Brown, who wrote the book, Sex and the Single Girl. Wanting to meet her, Bob impersonates one of his neighbors and goes to Helen for marriage counseling.

Eventually, Bob suggests to Helen that they start dating, to get her attention he threatens to drown himself. When she arrives she accidentally causes them to fall into the water. They go to Helen's apartment to dry off and while Bob mixes martinis, Helen tells him, that she is in love with him and he fesses up that he is not really married.

Helen doesn't believe him and asks to see his wife, Sylvia. The next day, Bob sends both his secretary, Susan, and his former girl friend, Gretchen, to Helen to convince Helen that he really is single.

Helen calls the real Sylvia and the three women all show up for the appointment. How will this romantic entanglement get resolved?

Natalie Wood, was a lot of fun to watch in a comedy about the battle of the sexes. When Tony Curtis talks about Jack Lemmon (Curtis' co-star in Some Like It Hot) will make anyone smile, who has seen the classic film.

Fran Jeffries (born May 18, 1937), had a cameo in the 1963 film, The Pink Panther, in which she sang a song called, It Had Better Be Tonight," while she danced provocatively around a fireplace. She had a minor role in, Sex and the Single Girl. She sang on, The Tom Jones Show in 1969 doing a duet of, You've Got What it Takes. She was featured in Playboy Magazine a couple years later, in 1971 at the age of 35, in a pictorial entitled "Frantastic!". Ten years later she posed a second time for Playboy at the age of 45. This second pictorial was titled "Still Frantastic!". Photos reveal that, at some point in her career, she perform onstage with Bob Hope.

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1961

1961

So the much anticipated ranking is:

5. Piper Laurie in The Hustler

This is not a performance for the ages but Piper Laurie is very good as Sarah in The Hustler. Although sometimes she's too overshadowed by Paul Newman, her work never loses its strength and occasionally, we see truly brilliant, unforgettable scenes. Her achievement is very evenly great and therefore she deserves some praise.

4. Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke

I don't think that this performance of Geraldine Page is all that special. I mean, she's great and she has a lots of great moments but altogether, she's not that brilliant. Apart from the beginning, she played Alma just like she had to and she put on very decent work that could be expected from an actress of her calibre. However, she's not as amazing as some say.

3. Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass

Natalie Wood took on a very difficult role and despite some early mistake, she put on a wonderful performance as Deanie Loomis. She portrayed all the fears and the tension so realistically and exceptionally that she became a truly luminous presence on the screen. She develops the character excellently, avoiding all the traps and obviousness that could have ruined her work.

2. Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

It really must be my sentimental side that came to surface while I was watching this movie but I couldn't care less. I understand why some could criticise it but for me, Audrey Hepburn's work as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's is deservedly one of the most iconic performances of all time. Not only has Audrey Hepburn created an unforgettable character, but also some marvellous acting.

1. Sophia Loren in Two Women

I know I should sum up his performance somehow but I feel that my whole review was the shortened version of how I feel about her. Nothing can come close to this wonderful emotionality, the radiant, brilliant personality of Sophia Loren (none of the Hollywood stars of her time can come close to her). This watch of the movie and my review was the ultimate test of my love for this performance and it passed. With distinction. :)

So I can proudly announce

the winner is...

Sophia Loren

in

Two Women

Easy win.

Congratulations to Fritz and Louis on the correct predictions! :) You got a prize but since you got it right only after 4 reviews you can both pick only from these 10 possibilities: 1943, 1953, 1962, 1967, 1968, 1976, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1999.

Final thoughts: BRILLIANT year! I so loved this year. All of them interesting, strong performances. Two very good ones, one really great and two legendary ones. I'm happy that I had to opportunity to do this wonderful year. I feel bad about not picking Audrey (so far, she's my best one not to win, I refuse to say loser) as that performance was worthy of an Oscar. However, no tie was possible. This award belonged to Sophia alone and the Academy somehow (what a miracle) realised that. So I've agreed with the Academy 3 years in a row. :)

Omissions: Jeanne Moreau in La Notte

The ranking of the reviewed years:

1. 1969
2. 1944
3. 1974
4. 1961
5. 1989
6. 2001
7. 1959
8. 2006
9. 1978
10. 2010
11. 1996
12. 1964
13. 1939
14. 1977
15. 1997
16. 2009
17. 1980
18. 1941
19. 1972
20. 1963
21. 1966
22. 1973
23. 1983
24. 1986
25. 1937
26. 1990
27. 1954
28. 1958
29. 1948
30. 2002
31. 1957
32. 2003
33. 1940
34. 1998
35. 1975

About the next year: It's no secret that it will be 1992. :)

What do you think?

Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass

Natalie Wood received her second Oscar nomination for playing Deanie Loomis, a furstrated teenage girl in Elia Kazan's movie, Splendor in the Grass. Many people were supporting Natalie's win back then and yet I don't think that I would have bet on her back then. Hedda Hopper was raging in her vicious style and writing in her paper that Natalie Wood was robbed of the Oscar. Besides her performance, there were many things going for her, she starred as Maria in West Side Story, a movie that received 10 Oscars plus she was a real star back then. However, she didn't win the precursor awards.

Splendor in the Grass is a very good movie and yet I had some problems with it. Although it was very exceptionally directed and the screenplay was quite good (though not worthy of an Oscar win over La dolce vita and especially Ballad of a Soldier), somehow the whole thing didn't tie me down at all and I quite often found myself struggling to pay attention, mostly during Warren Beatty's scenes, which were quite boring, in my opinion and lacked the real emotional tension. Some things were too shallowly mentioned and not talked about enough.

However, that doesn't apply to Natalie Wood's scenes. Although Natalie Wood's reputation could be better, she's really great as Deanie in Splendor in the Grass. It's the kind of role that she had already played in Rebel Without a Cause but Deanie is quite different from Judy. In some of Natalie Wood's performances, I felt something quite artificial and it was obvious that she was a child actor. The latter could be observed in Splendor in the Grass, too. There was a scene where Deanie is breaking down to Warren Beatty's character, Bud. It was just like watching Elizabeth Taylor, even Natalie's voice was just like Taylor's. Both of them grew up in front of the camera and we can see the old Hollywood in them (and its acting style). However, that's not a serious problem for me.

Many consider this one to be Natalie Wood's greatest performance. Although I haven't seen enough from her to decide, I'm saying that this is indeed the best work that I've seen from her. She excells at showing Deanie's pain and fears without overdoing these emotions. I guess the fact that she had one of the best directors an actor could have (Elia Kazan) helped her a lot and many times I really saw her transforming into Deanie.

In the beginning, she seems to be little bit off and I felt that it was a bit shaky but her performance improved a lot in a very short time. Her presence became quite magnetic and I really just couldn't take my eyes off the screen. In each and every moment, there was such emotional tension in her and that was probably the best way to portray such a character. Right now, I cannot even think about any other actress who portrayed a teenage girl so well. I really can't. There's nothing sugary about Natalie, nothing was exagerrated and each of her choices were good. Again, the guidance of the director was very important but after all it was Natalie who put on this performance.

Deanie is madly in love with a boy named Bud but she's terrified of any sexual contact but in a much different way than Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke. Natalie showed this fear with much realism and I really felt sorry for Deanie. After all, she gets to a mental institution and the scenes which show how she got to that point are played brilliantly. Deanie sinks deeper and deeper into desperation and Wood showed her transformation excellently. This development is really extraordinary because Wood doesn't look for the easy way, instead she was really fearless and wanted to create something very realistic. And she succeeded. Deanie became a very real character with whom you could easily identify.

Natalie Wood took on a very difficult role and despite some early mistake, she put on a wonderful performance as Deanie Loomis. She portrayed all the fears and the tension so realistically and exceptionally that she became a truly luminous presence on the screen. She develops the character excellently, avoiding all the traps and obviousness that could have ruined her work.

What do you think?

The Next Year

1961

So the nominees were:

• Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Piper Laurie in The Hustler
• Sophia Loren in Two Women
• Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke
• Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass

Sophia Loren made history in 1961 by becoming the first actress to win for an entirely foreign language-speaking performance. Will she be my winner, too or will I pick one of the other incredible ladies?

What do you think? What's your ranking? What's your prediction for my ranking?

The Final Conclusion - Best Actress 1963

About the field: three terrific and two weaker, but entertaining performances. These five actresses all impressed me to a degree, so I'm definitely shocked that this year is so rarely talked about. These performances are definitely worth watching and reviewing and I hope you watched the movies too, when you could. We saw five simple, working class women dealing with everyday problems: out-of-wedlock pregnancies (in three of the cases) or a violent man's love (in two cases). Despite the similar natures of the characters, the five ladies could not have been more diffenrent. This is actually a very exciting race, and each performance and movie was worth the time. A true pleasant surprise (which I expected a bit). The ranking was really difficult for me and only the #3 was obvious for me (and eventually #1). So here it is:

5. Shirley MacLaine in Irma La Douce

During the movie I was quite impressed and I liked her, but while I was writing the review I suddenly had complaints, doubts and I finished it sourly, struggling to go on. Too bad, as I wanted to love Shirley and I did in a way, it's her performance just lacked something which would have made it special. Still, she's very entertaining and sometimes even hilarious.



4.Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger

Wood's charm always helps her performance a great deal, because she's so beautiful and radiant, that you can never take you eyes off her. I liked her a lot during the movie, but found flaws in it when I was writing the review about it. I still appreciated it a lot and it certainly impressed me to a degree. But again it's not totally enough to totally satisfy me.

3.Rachel Roberts in This Sporting Life

Roberts is always in control of the character technically, although her performance mostly relies on the emotions and the impact on the audience. This is one of the most effective performances I've ever seen and the most brilliant (and smart) thing about is that you really don't recognize at first how tricky Roberts is with you, the viewer.Heartbreaking, natural, simple, unforgettable.

2. Patricia Neal in Hud

Neal uses her face and mostly her eyes to tell the story of Alma. Yes she speaks much, but she doesn't tell much with words, it's her facial expressions that let you inside her mind. I cannot really think about any performances like hers among actresses. She hits you hard with her subtlety like a bus, grab you and doesn't let you take your eyes off her.

1. Leslie Caron in The L-Shaped Room

This is not performance with a nice packing and absolutely no content in it (I can say numerous hailed performances lacking content), this is hundred per cent reality. Brutally real, brutally heartbreaking. One of the truly great achievemnents I've ever seen. This is Acting with capital A. The most subtle dynamite. Very few performers are able to achieve such greatness.

So I can proudly announce that my winner for 1963 is...

Leslie Caron

in

The L-Shaped Room

Yes, yes, Ms. Caron.

Also worth of a nomination that year: Ingrid Thulin in The Silence, Klári Tolnay in Skylark, Gunnel Lindblom in The Silence

So, our next year is also a secret that I will reveal tomorrow, but of course I can give you clues (now I give four).

• Comedy, why not?
  
  
• Blondies suck...
  
  
• Viva La France!
  
  
• Please don't get mad!
  
  

Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger

Popular, beloved actress Natalie Wood received her third and last Oscar nomination for playing Angie Rossini, a pregnant Italian-American girl, who has to deal with responsibility and the father of her unborn child (Steve McQueen) in the dramedy movie Love with the Proper Stranger. I am quite sure (just like in the case of Shirley MacLaine) that Wood received many votes from the Academy as she was Oscarless and a huge star (and was expected to win for Splendor in the Grass). It did not turn out to be enough for her to win the Oscar, which people do not complain much about, except for maybe her biggest fans.



Love with the Proper Stranger is a lovely and enjoyable little movie by Robert Mulligan which cannot live up to his previous masterpiece (To Kill the Mockingbird), but it's still very entertaining. It received five nominations altoghether, which were justified in my opinion. The actors give decent, but not too brilliant performances. Steve McQueen was a good actor, but he was not given that much to do in this movie and he's miscast in my opinion as he does not seem very Italian, if you know what I mean. However, I must mention the actor, who plays Columbo, the clumsy young man courting Natalie.



Natalie, beautiful Natalie. What can I say about her performance here? She could give heavy dramatic performances and there were occasions where she was terribly miscast (West Side Story ahhhem), but one cannot deny her radiant personality, her beauty and above all, her great acting talent. She moves with such ease and naturality in front of the camera, I think she was born to become a movie star. With the character of Angie, she made very wise decisions in my opinion. Although it doesn't have many opportunities, Wood really lifted the not very complicated material. At the beginning of the movie I did not like her performance as it mostly consisted of Italian-American stereotypes and mannerisms, but in time she got me with her warmth and naturality.



Wood shows the most vulnerable and miserable side of this character, her insecurity is so heartbreaking in the scenes where she considers abortion or the scene where she's getting undressed, but breaks down eventually. Those scenes gave me creeps and they were quite probably the highlights of Natalie's whole performance, which turned out to be more lightweight in the end, which is not a big problem to tell the truth, but you have to expect that heavy drama could only be found towards the middle of it, where all the insecurites of Angie are revealed. For those sequences it is definitely worth watching this movie.



It's interesting that this year, two actresses were nominated for playing single and pregnant young girls. Leslie Caron showed the dark side of the situation with her minimal and breathtaking acting, Natalie Wood did not go that deep into the character's mind. I know that it's not fair to compare them for it is also the screenplay's and the director's fault, still I believe that Wood's character should have been a little deeper and probably more complicated.



This whole thing does not mean though, that I wasn't utterly charmed. Wood's charm always helps her performance a great deal, because she's so beautiful and radiant, that you can never take you eyes off her. A brilliant example for that is when she's expecting Steve McQueen for dinner and watches herself in the mirror, being worried and by this she perfectly shows the excitement of the real first date.



Wood dealt with the comedy parts well, although she was did not do wonders with the material (like MacLaine for example). However, I must tell that she was not very convincing in the dinner scene with Columbo's family, where she's very clumsy and almost damages everything, burns herself and so on. I think it was needless and useless in for the movie. When she talks in the same scene about love, it's not solved perfectly either and is probably her weakest part of her performance.



To sum up, I saw a performance again that I liked a lot during the movie, but found flaws in it when I was writing the review about it. I still liked it a lot and it certainly impressed me to a degree. But again it's not totally enough to totally satisfy me. Something's missing.

So now I've finished the reviews and now I'm thinking the whole race over. Only one place is already decided in my ranking, I don't really know how to rank the others, but time (and me too) will tell. If your interested in Love with the Proper Stranger just click here. I am waiting for opinions and predictions in comments! :)

The Next Year

I'm back from my vacation so we can begin our next year. Well, unfortunately it's no secret that it's 1963, probably one of the most rarely talked about races ever.I've seen only two nominees so far and both of them more than 2 years ago. However, I'm very excited to re-watch them and see the new ones. I really don't know whom I'm going to pick and how the ranking will look like, but that makes it more exciting. (I predict lots of four Meryls)


The nominees were:

• Leslie Caron in The L-Shaped Room
• Shirley MacLaine in Irma La Douce
• Patricia Neal in Hud
• Rachel Roberts in This Sporting Life
  
• Natalie Wood in Love with the Proper Stranger

So, who's your pick? Who's your prediction? If anyone predicticts my exact ranking will get a special mention in the final conclusion. Last time Fritz predicted the whole ranking, so congrats:)

We should try watching these movies together, so I will send links (just click on the title of the movie at the beginning of the entry) in order to discuss them together.