Members of a secret society hold a meeting to determine whether a powerful and dangerous man whom they have been studying closely for the past three months must die. Once they all agree that he deserves to die, cards are drawn to see who will be dealt the ace of hearts and chosen to complete the deadly task. Two club members, Farallone (Lon Chaney) and Forrest (John Bowers), are both in love with Lilith (Leatrice Joy), the only female member. But Lilith is devoted to the cause and turns down both their advances. However, when Forrest draws the ace of hearts, Lilith agrees to marry him, in order to give him courage. After their first night together, Lilith discovers she actually loves Forrest and begs him to reject the assignment and flee with her. Forrest, ruled by honor, cannot quit the cause and leaves to follow through on his task. While he is gone Lilith beseeches a heartbroken Farallone and begs him to stop Forrest. Believing that Forrest will not complete the task, he strikes up a deal with Lilith- if Forrest does not complete the task he will save Forrest and Lilith from the society’s wrath. If Forrest does complete the task but is fatally wounded in doing so, Lilith must marry him. Lilith agrees to the terms. Forrest returns to the society declaring his inability to fulfill his task because he would have caused the death of two innocents that were in the vicinity. He gives the bomb that was made for the execution back to the society and leaves with Lilith. When the members meet to decide their fate, death for Forrest, Farallone sets off a bomb, which kills them all.Monday, September 28, 2009
Members of a secret society hold a meeting to determine whether a powerful and dangerous man whom they have been studying closely for the past three months must die. Once they all agree that he deserves to die, cards are drawn to see who will be dealt the ace of hearts and chosen to complete the deadly task. Two club members, Farallone (Lon Chaney) and Forrest (John Bowers), are both in love with Lilith (Leatrice Joy), the only female member. But Lilith is devoted to the cause and turns down both their advances. However, when Forrest draws the ace of hearts, Lilith agrees to marry him, in order to give him courage. After their first night together, Lilith discovers she actually loves Forrest and begs him to reject the assignment and flee with her. Forrest, ruled by honor, cannot quit the cause and leaves to follow through on his task. While he is gone Lilith beseeches a heartbroken Farallone and begs him to stop Forrest. Believing that Forrest will not complete the task, he strikes up a deal with Lilith- if Forrest does not complete the task he will save Forrest and Lilith from the society’s wrath. If Forrest does complete the task but is fatally wounded in doing so, Lilith must marry him. Lilith agrees to the terms. Forrest returns to the society declaring his inability to fulfill his task because he would have caused the death of two innocents that were in the vicinity. He gives the bomb that was made for the execution back to the society and leaves with Lilith. When the members meet to decide their fate, death for Forrest, Farallone sets off a bomb, which kills them all.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Fredric March gets tight with Jim.
Virginia Bruce prefers a Woodbury nightcap.
Natalie Wood purifies with Lux.
John Wayne can't risk thoat irritation, so he smokes Camels. Poor sap.
Sure it's a good color, but that style Joan. That style!
Bob Hope for Paravox hearing aids.
June Allyson cremes her hair with Lustre-Creme.
Tonight on TCM!
Scandal Sheet (1952) A tabloid editor assigns a young reporter to solve a murder the editor committed himself. Cast: Broderick Crawford, Donna Reed, John Derek, Rosemary DeCamp Dir: Phil Karlson
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Eva Phillips (Joan Crawford) dominates the Georgia mansion she shares with her husband Avery (Barry Sullivan), an alcoholic mill owner and his sister Carol (Betsy Palmer). When Eva's cousin, Jennifer Stewart (Lucy Marlow), visits she is at first naive to what is going on in the household and defends Eva anytime Carol or Avery say a bad word against her. However, the longer Jennifer stays the more she doesn't like what she sees. She watches as Eva ruthlessly maneuvers to prevent the marriage of Avery's sister to Judson Prentiss (John Ireland) by telling Carol that she and Judson were once lovers. When Carol learns the truth, she commits suicide. When Eva senses the developing relationship between Jennifer and Avery, she threatens to make Avery's life miserable if he leaves her, reminding him that the last time he thought to do so resulted in his face being scarred. Avery decides then that he will publicly display his love for Eva and vows to her that he has changed. He will now go to her social gatherings with her, stop holing himself up in his room and drinking, and give her the second honeymoon she deserves. Judson suspects this is a hoax on Avery's part and figures out that Avery plans to kill Eva and himself via an automobile accident. However, Judson beats him to the punch as he feels responsible for avenging Carol's death. Now Jennifer and Avery are free to be together.
The advent of TV made most movies in 50's, to my way of thinking, unbearable to watch. Queen Bee is a testament to Joan Crawford's talent in that flagging era of cinema as well as a testament to the lackluster stars who also performed in that era. Crawford simply outshines everyone involved in this movie. I think, like any other viewer, you're simply waiting for her next screen entrance and everything in between is boring filler. Not only because Crawford plays such a ruthless character, but also because she has the talent to make you feel sorry for her being so ruthless. Carol and Avery warn Jennifer that Eva will never let her go once she has you in her clutches and it's believable because Crawford holds the viewer in her clutches as well. Even as you cringe at the selfish things she does, these spiteful things she says, her manipulative ways have captivated you.
Queen Bee is bearable only because Joan Crawford made it so. Which is a shame since the plot is a good one. Both Marlow and Palmer fell flat in their performances, their faces garish masks of emotion while there are too many unnatural pauses between dialogue. Sullivan portrays too well what a man defeated by life looks like, not even getting riled up when his sister falls prey to his wife. Ireland does little better, spouting cutting barbs as his face remains in stone. The movie also moves at an unnatural pace, though the time lines are established (everything that happens in the movie is over the course of a few weeks) there is no time to mourn the loss of Carol, in fact, no one seems to at all. There are not enough scenes between Jennifer and Avery to convince the viewer that she has fallen in love with him, and the combination of Sullivan's performance and the timeline of one afternoon does not convince the viewer that Eva should believe Avery really loves her and wants to start over again.
An interesting aspect of the film is the recurring nightmare that Eva and Avery's son Ted has. As Carol explains to Jennifer, he keeps seeing himself in a car with his mother as they drive towards a mountain. Ted wakes up screaming every night right before the mountain is reached. As Eva and Judson topple over in the car, a close up of Eva's face while screaming is suddenly replaced with Ted screaming as he awakens. Jennifer settles him back in as he mumbles that it's happened, it's finally over.
I hope I look this good at fifty!Tonight on TCM!
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)In this silent film, a student tries to win a rival captain's daughter after taking over his father's riverboat. Cast: Buster Keaton, Ernest Torrence, Tom Lewis, Tom McGuire Dir: Charles F. Reisner
Friday, September 18, 2009
Robert Montgomery and George Hurrell.
Ruth Chatterton most likely on the set of Frisco Jenny. 
Burton and Taylor on the set of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 
Director Clarence Brown on the set of Anna Karenina with Garbo and March.
On the set of Gone With the Wind.
Herbert Brenon and Alla Nazimova. 
Orson Welles
Tonight on TCM!
Strange Cargo (1940) Devil's Island escapees are changed forever by a prisoner who thinks he's Jesus.Cast: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Ian Hunter, Peter Lorre Dir: Frank Borzage
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