Yvonne De Carlo
Pier Angeli
Ava Gardner
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Writer Tom Robinson Lee (John Kerr) attends his 10-year reunion at Chilton boarding school and reminisces about his last year there. Intelligent, shy and sensitive Tom is not like the other boys, preferring to remain alone and play what they term “long hair” music. Secretly he has a crush on Laura Reynolds (Deborah Kerr), the relatively new wife of dormitory headmaster Bill Reynolds (Leif Erikson). Tom sees in her a mother figure that has been denied him since age five when his mother left. Since then his father Herb (Edward Andrews) has kept him in a series of boarding schools. Hoping that Reynolds, who is also a former classmate and alumni of Chilton, can make a man out of his son, Mr. Lee has no qualms about what kind of drastic measures need to be taken to do so. The situation is exacerbated when, in an attempt to spend more time with Laura, Tom is caught in a sewing circle on the beach by some of his classmates earning him the name “Sister Boy Lee”. Reynolds, who all the boys look up to as an example of masculinity does nothing to stop the vicious rumors that begin with such name calling. Laura witnesses what’s unfolding and tries to get her husband to me more sensitive and mature about the situation. However Reynold’s demands she keeps a polite distance from the situation, claiming she is babying Tom. This only another example to Laura that Reynolds is pulling away from her since they’ve been married. She can’t seem to draw his attention away from the male students, even to the point where he has invited some of them on their vacation.
Soon the boys begin to taunt Tom even though his roommate, Al Thompson (Darryl Hickman), a star athlete, comes to his defense. When his father visits to watch his tennis match, the only sport Tom likes, he hears the boys mocking Tom. Though his son is winning the match, he leaves it to go and watch the baseball team much to Tom’s disappointment. Later Mr. Lee encourages his son to be more manly by cutting his hair in a crew cut and urging him to interact with the soda shop waitress Ellie Martin (Norma Crane), as the other boys do. Before he leaves, Mr. Lee visits Reynolds and expresses shame that Tom is not like the other boys. Laura overhears them discuss the evening's bonfire, at which new boys, wearing pajamas, are chased by the older students who will attempt to rip the clothes off of them (insert irony here). Mr. Lee and Reynolds hope the boys will be harder on Tom as a sort of lesson. Laura attempts to intervene and tries to explain to Reynolds that some boys, like her first husband who dies in the war, are simply more sensitive. This only serves to infuriate Reynolds who is becoming more and more upset by Laura’s attention to Tom. Mr. Lee’s visit is further damaging when he realizes that Tom will be playing a female role in the school play. Demanding that he quit the part, Tom must call the director immediately.
After the bonfire when the the boys march Tom out to the field, but refuse to touch him mocking that he’s too unmanly for such sport, Al, in an attempt to get the horrible proceedings over, rips off Tom's top, prompting the others to join suit. The next day Al receives a phone call from his father demanding that he move to another dorm next semester. When he tells Laura, she first threatens to start a rumor about him but then apologizes for her action. However, Al can see her point of view and attempts to teach his friend how to appear manlier, but after they both decide that may not be enough, Al suggests that Tom visit Ellie, whose reputation with the boys at school will help him gain the boys camaraderie. When Laura hears Tom making a date with Ellie, she tries to detain him knowing that he finds the whole situation highly distasteful. Tom impulsively kisses her, but runs off when Bill and some boys return early from a rained-out weekend mountain climb. He goes to Ellie's, but is repulsed by her easiness. As they dance, she remarks on how soft his hands are prompting her to recall out loud that he has the nickname “sister boy Lee” and starts laughing at him. In desperation, Tom grabs a knife from her kitchen drawer to attempt suicide but Ellie gets her her neighbors to detain him and call the campus police. The next day Mr. Lee arrives proud that his son was caught in a woman’s room but soon learns from Reynolds what really transpired. Laura, sick of the situation, tells her husband that she blames him for not stopping the bullying of Tom and again insists that real men can be gentle and considerate. She claims he has done nothing but pull away from her since they have been married and admits that she tried to get Tom to “prove” himself with her. Reynolds, disgusted by this, tells her that what she really wants is to mother a boy rather than love a man and storms off. Laura then goes in search of Tom and locates him in the woods. As they kiss, she says, "Years from now, when you talk about this, and you will, be kind."
Back to the present, Tom goes to visit Laura but only finds Reynolds living alone. Reynolds gives him a letter from Laura and Tom reads that she appreciates the novel he wrote about their relationship, but states she sacrificed her marriage for Tom because he was the easier problem to fix. Despite this, she reassures Tom that she has kept her affection for him.
Minnelli later claimed that he was the director to film a story about homosexuality. In order to get the story filmed under the prevailing Hollywood code, a few changes were made. The major change being that the word homosexual could not be used. I think this helped further the message of the film- that innuendo and rumor can ruin. Anderson
Tonight on TCM!
55 Days At Peking (1963) An American major leads the defense against Chinese revolutionaries in 1900 Peking. Dir: Nicholas Ray Cast: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have been enjoying TCM’s tribute to Buster Keaton this month. Knowing him only as the silent comedian who lit up the screen with his CRAZY antics (I mean Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin are fantastic but the physical body comedy Keaton performed goes above and beyond) it was a delight for me to watch him in a talkie. Despite the odd pacing and random story line so typical in early 30’s film, Free and Easy was a delight mostly due to Keaton and Friganza. Their interactions with one another are hilarious! I also got to watch the short documentary on Keaton So Funny It Hurt; Buster Keaton and MGM, a poignant title in that his years at MGM after being an independent actor for over a decade basically ruined him. I was not aware that MGM played such an integral part of the disintegration of his stardom and aided his descent into alcoholism. Nor was I aware that once he was able to straighten his life out, that he did so much work, often uncredited, behind the scenes- he recycled his on-screen gags and wrote new material for the likes of Red Skelton and the Marx Brothers. If you haven’t had a chance to check out his body of work- tune in this Sunday as TCM continues to pay tribute to one of the greatest physical comedians ever!
Side note:
Be on the look out for Ann Dvorak who is uncredited in this film- she's pretty easy to spot!
Tonight on TCM!
The Big Combo (1955) A police detective tries to convict a mob boss by going to the man's girlfriend. Dir: Joseph Lewis Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Brian Donlevy.
Monday, October 17, 2011
After turning down her neighbor Gabriel’s (Alan Bates) offer of marriage, Bathsheba (Julie Christie) leaves her aunt’s home to inherit her uncle's farm in Weatherbury. Gabriel in turn has misfortune with his own farm and shepherding attempts and must go to London to find work on a richer landowner’s property. Coincidentally he ends up meeting Bathsheba again when he happens upon a dangerous fire on a farm and leads the bystanders in putting it out. Bathsheba hires Gabriel on as a shepherd and states that she will take a larger hand in running the farm herself. While cleaning out her uncle’s house she comes across a pretty Valentine that she impulsively sends with the mesaage “Marry Me” to William Boldwood (Peter Finch), the nearby landowner and a man reputed for having no “passionate parts. Thinking she is serious, Boldwood comes to propose and Bathsheba, admitting it was sent in jest, promises to consider his offer. However, in the meanwhile, she falls in love truly for the first time with Frank Troy (Terence stamp), a dashing cavalry officer. Unaware that Troy should (and almost did) marry Fanny Robin (Prunella Ransome), a maidservant on the farm who is now pregnant with his child, Bathsheba proposes marriage to him. Almost immediately, it becomes evident that Troy has no desire to be a farmer causing tension among the farmhands and gambling away what little money the farm produces. When Fanny reappears having gone missing after their wedding mishap (she left him waiting at the altar having been mistaken about the church they were to be married in) Troy promises to bring her money to the workhouse she has been at in order to survive. Unfortunately he is too late and left waiting again as Fanny is taken back to the farm in a coffin that’s been inscribed with chalk: Fanny Robin and child. Gabriel, upon seeing this, wipes away the evidence but Bathsheba already suspects the worse. Later that night she opens Fanny’s coffin and Troy finds her putting flowers around fanny’s head. Filled with remorse and not listening to Bathsheba’s pleads that she is the better choice, Troy proclaims that Fanny is the only woman he has ever loved and leaves her. Troy is assumed dead with his clothing is found near the ocean prompting Boldwood to propose again. Bathsheba, though she does not want to, promises to marry Boldwood when Troy is declared legally dead which will take six years time. However, Troy reappears at the holiday party right after Bathsheba makes her promise and claims he is there to take her home. But Boldwood, completely deranged by his desire for Bathsheba kills him. Eight months after the horrible incident, Gabriel states that he will be going to America. Realizing how much she has always depended upon his strength and devotion, Bathsheba finally accepts his proposal of marriage.
Normally I find a three hour film fairly daunting, however Far from the Maddening Crowd had what I like to call the handsome trifecta- Stamp, Bates, and Finch. You can’t turn that down no matter how much you dislike Julie Christie’s 60’s hair. My instincts were correct as this was a great and enthralling film with stand out performances by both Finch and Stamp. If you are not familiar with Terence Stamp's work, you should become so, he's still gracing us with his talent today. I would highly recommend an earlier film of his, The Collector.
Tonight on TCM!
Horror!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A pretty bland comedy starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray who have found one another and don’t realize until it’s almost too late that they’ll need to sacrifice a few wishes for the sake of love. Oh, and another movie where Ralph Bellamy gets shafted.
Gene Raymond’s at it again! After his wife, played by Fay Wray, becomes a successful lawyer and his career remains stagnate, they separate. When Raymond is accused of murder, Wray literally comes to his defense and saves the day. But then she quits her job so she can help him become an architect Sigh. Who knows what kind of mess he'll get into again!
Pat O’Brien and Fred McHugh are a couple of promoters with nothing to promote but a mounting hotel bill. Seeing a chance to win some money, they enter a contest for “America's Prettiest Girl” with a composite photo of all the famous stars and debutantes of the day. When reporters come knocking in pursuit of the girl in the photo, O’Brien and Mcugh find luck from an unlikely source- their oft ignored hotel maid played by Marion Davies. Turns out she isn’t so homely outside her uniform.
Tired of being the innocent face for “Ippsie-Wippsie Washclothes” Ginger Rogers decides to rebel. To appease her, her publicity team picks a guy from her fan mail in order to create a romance. However, Norman Foster soon proves he’s not someone to be trifled with.
I absolutely disliked Katharine Hepburn in this film. Acting like a man and trying to hide her girlish naivete, Hepburn is simply put, annoying. The movie seems to move as slow as molasses and Cary Grant plays no saint. In fact, he’s quite frightening at moments.
This is a moving saga about a woman who raises her four children after killing their father in self-defense. Be on the look out for a very young Robert Taylor.
When an unscrupulous broker meets a murderous end, Inspector Piper receives the unsolicited aid of a wily schoolteacher who successfully helps him solve the crime. I love Edna May Oliver and Robert Armstrong in this film!
Not theThin Man but William Powell and Myrna Loy are just as wonderfully hilarious. Watch Powell fail to woo an indifferent Loy.
Tonight on TCM!
The Gay Sisters (1942) A New York aristocrat marries for the money to save the family mansion.Dir: Irving Rapper Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Geraldine Fitzgerald.
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