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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Character Actor Corner: Beulah Bondi
Miss Beulah Bondi appeared in over 70 films,several Broadway Hit Plays, and appeared on Television. Of slight stature, with a gaunt, pale looking face, dark hair and deep-set, penetrating eyes, she was a veteran actress who worked well into her 80s.
Born Beulah Bondy in Chicago, Illinois on May 3, 1888, she began her acting career on the stage at age 7. She changed the spelling of her name from Bondy to Bondi because her father disapproved of her chosen profession. Upon graduation from Valparaiso University, she joined a stock company, working throughout the U.S. until her 1925 Broadway debut in Kenneth S. Webb's "One of the Family" at the 49th Street Theatre on December 21, 1925. The show was a modest hit, racking up 238 performances. She next appeared in another hit, Maxwell Anderson's "Saturday's Children," which ran for 326 performances, before appearing in her first flop, Clemence Dane's "Mariners" in 1927. Philip Barry's and Elmer Rice's "Cock Robin" was an extremely modest hit in 1928, reaching the century mark (100 performances), but it was Bondi's performance in Rice's "Street Scene," which opened at the Playhouse Theatre on Jamuary 10, 1929, that made her career. This famous play won Rice the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was a big hit, playing for 601 performances
Her film debut occurred at age 43, in 1931's Street Scene. Though young in age, Bondi specialized in playing mothers, grandmothers and society dowagers. Look for Beulah in movies made in the1930's and 40's. You will probably find her in the next one you watch. In her role as Rachel Jackson in "The Gorgeous Hussy" (1936), she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Nomination. She is probably best remembered for her role as Mrs. Bailey, the mother of George Bailey, in "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946). Her own favorite performance was as a bigoted women, Ma Bridges, in 1957's "Track of the Cat."
Her last movie role was in a TV movie "She Waits" (1971) as Mrs. Angela Medina. In 1977, she won an Emmy for her performance on the dramatic TV series The Waltons. As often as she played the ideal mother in films, she never married or had children in real life. She lived alone in a beautiful three story house built into the Hollywood Hills. She died on January 11, 1981 at age 92 in Hollywood, California of pulmonary complications due to broken ribs she suffered in a fall at her home.
The Baron of Arizona- 1950
Cast:
Vincent Price ... James Addison Reavis,Brother Anthony and Unknown Gypsy
Ellen Drew ... Sofia de Peralta-Reavis
Vladimir Sokoloff ... Pepito Alvarez
Beulah Bondi ... Loma Morales
Reed Hadley ... John Griff
Robert Barrat ... Judge Adams (as Robert H. Barrat)
Robin Short ... Tom Lansing
Tina Pine ... Rita (as Tina Rome)
Karen Kester ... Sofia as a Child
Margia Dean ... Marquesa de Santella
Jonathan Hale ... Governor
Edward Keane ... Surveyor General Miller
Barbara Woodell ... Mrs. Carrie Lansing
I. Stanford Jolley ... Mr. Richardson
Fred Kohler Jr. ... Demmings
Crew:
James Wong Howe -Cinematographer
Paul Dunlap -(Composer (Music Score))
Samuel Fuller -Director
Arthur D. Hilton -Editor
Carl Hittleman-Producer
Samuel Fuller -Screenwriter
Review:
The film starts out with the Govenor of Arizona and other men drinking brandy and discussing the history of Arizona. The Govenor briefly describes Reavis' actions and then the movie goes back in time to 1880. Here is the basis of the scam. Reavis worked as a clerk in the land office at Santa Fe, New Mexico so that helped him a great deal. He heard about old spanish land grants and wanted a piece of the action.
First he found a peasant man named Pepito Alvarez, who was guardian over an orphan child. He told the man that he was from the land office and his child was heir to the Peralta land grant. The man lived near the boundries of the Peralta Land Grant. They soon move in with Revis who obtains a governness named Loma Morales (Beulah Bondi ) for the child. The child is told that she is really a baronness and is schooled in how to be a lady of royal birth. She is told that she will become rich. With this part of his scam going well he needs to create and falsify documents to back it up. Before leaving for Spain, he carved a bogus message on a rock that stated that in 1750 Queen Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain had declared the area as belonging to the Peralta Land Grant. He travels to Spain to forge documents to back up his case. He even becomes a monk to get a look at and change the documents. He spends at least 7 years overseas.
Next, he heads back to the U.S. to marry a (now grown) Sophia de Peralta. After the wedding, he hatches his plan to deceive the people and government of the territories of AZ and NM. He collects rent from ranches,farms and mines for eleven years. He boldly collected rent from the Southern Pacific railroad for right-of way rights to operate on his land. The Baron and Baroness become one of the wealthest in Arizona. Enraged townsfolk travel to Phoenix to protest his actions.
Finally on June 27, 1896, his trial begins. To find out what happens, you need to watch the movie.
Trivia:
Shot in 15 days.
Quotes:
Rita, the Gypsy Dancer: Who are you?
James Addison 'The Baron' Reavis, aka Brother Anthony: A wanderer like Cain looking for a woman of my own.
(You have to see the movie to appreciate the Quote.)
Final Thoughts:
I liked the movie, but I thought that a few things could have been changed. Beulah Bondi was not given much to do with her part. I also would have liked to learn more about James Addison Reavis. Through research,I found out that he had been scamming people since the Civil War.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The Green Years (1946)
Charles Coburn - GreatGrandpa Alexander "Dandy" Gow
Tom Drake - Robert Shannon
Beverly Tyler - Alison KeithHume Cronyn - (Grand )Papa Leckie
Gladys Cooper - Grandma Leckie
Dean Stockwell - Robert Shannon, 8 years
Jessica Tandy - Kate Leckie
Selena Royle - Mama Leckie
Richard Haydn - Jason Reid
Andy Clyde - Saddler Boag
Norman Lloyd - Adam Leckie
Robert North - Murdoch Leckie
Wallace Ford - Jamie Nigg
Eilene Janssen - Alison Keith as a Child
Hank Daniels - Gavin Blair
Richard Lyon - Gavin Blair as a Child
Henry O'Neill - Canon Roche
Henry Stephenson - Professor Blakely
Crew:
Victor Saville - Director
Leon Gordon - Producer
Archibald J. Cronin - Book Author
Arnold A. Gillespie - Special Effects
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director
Donald Jahraus - Special Effects
George Folsey - Cinematographer
Hans Peters - Art Director
Herbert Stothart - Composer (Music Score)
Irene Sharaff - Costume Designer
Robert Ardrey - Screenwriter
Robert J. Kern - Editor
Sonya Levien - Screenwriter
Plot:
This novel was adapted by "The Green Years" by A.J. Cronin. The book in many ways is autobiographical. A.J. Cronin was Scottish and raised by relatives in a mining town. He became a doctor.
The film starts by showing that young Robert Shannon (Dean Stockwell) is orphaned he leaves his home in Ireland and travels to Langford, Scotland, home of his Presbyterian maternal Gandparents (the Leckies). Although Robert is Catholic his Presbyterian family tolerates his religous difference. Growing up in the home of his penny-pinching (Grand) Papa Leckie (Hume Cronyn) is made bearable by his doting but irresponsible great-grandfather Gow(Charles Coburn). Rounding out the cast are Great Grandmother Leckie (Dame Gladys Cooper), loving grandmother Leckie (Selena Royle),and kind aunt Kate(Jessica Tandy). Robert is leary of his money hungry uncle Adam(Norman Lloyd) that lives in London.Adam is a always looking to make money at the expense of others.
At the center of this movie is Robert and GreatGrandpa's relationship. Robert is drawn out of his shell by GreatGrandpa. On several occassions Great Grandpa saves the day for young Robert by paying for a new communion suit and teaching him to fight when classmates tease him about a suit that his Great Grandmother made for him. Great Grandpa is the only one that is supportive of Robert's Catholic faith. He is the only member of the family to attend Robert's first communion.
At his school, Robbie adjusts and is befriended by Gavin and Allison, whom he grows to love as the years pass. As he matures into a young man (Tom Drake)Robbie’s dreams turn to medicine and becoming a doctor. His studies are guided by Prof. Rattray Blakely (Henry Stephenson), who recognizes Roberts scholastic talents. Supported by everyone in the family except his Grandfather Leckie, he studies for a scholarship as a way to escape life toiling in the local boiler-works. Grand Papa Leckie does not want Robert to go to college and is really jealous of Robert's intellegance. An Attack of the flu causes Robert to miss one part of his Scholarship exams and he fail to obtain the scholarship. When GreatGranpa Gow dies, the Leckies are surprised when a recently added codicil to GreatGandpa Gow's will is discovered, in which it is stipulated that all of his life insurance money is to be used to pay for Robert's university education. Grand Papa Leckie does not want Robert to go to college and is really jealous of Robert's intellegance. He wants Robert to give him the money since he has "allowed" Robert to stay with the family for over ten years. The rest of the family forces Grandpa Leckie to change his mind and allow Robert to attend college. With his tuition paid, the promising young scientist attends his first day at the university with his former schoolmate and sweetheart, Alison Keith, at his side.
Trivia:
There is an unusual pairing of married actors Hume Cronyn (age 35) and Jessica Tandy (age 37), here playing father and daughter. Jessica also happened to be pregnant with their first child.
Awards:
Nominated Best Cinaematography-George Folsey
Nominated Best Supporting Actor-Charles Coburn
Review and Final Thoughts:
The Green Years is an unexpected gem of a film. For some odd reason, I did not think that I would like it. The mostly American cast pull off thick Scots and Irish brogues without loosing them.
This drama refects Scotch characteristics from the thrifty Papa Leckie to the drinking Dandy. Religious differences are tolerated, and education is valued as the key to a better future.
This drama refects Scotch characteristics from the thrifty Papa Leckie to the drinking Dandy. Religious differences are tolerated, and education is valued as the key to a better future.
There is alot of drama to keep you interested. Dame Gladys Cooper is great as GreatGrandma Leckie. The constant bickering between GreatGrandpa Gow and GreatGrandma Leckie add comic relief when needed. Also, Dean Stockwell is so cute as Robert, it is hard to keep your eyes off of him.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
New Princess Grace Photos coming soon
Bon Jour,
I will be posting some photos of Princess Gratia Patricia Kelly Grimaldi in the next few days. I just picked up my parents at the airport and they had a great time in Paris, Monaco and Nice. In the south of France they toured the palace in Monaco and visited the Casino at Monte Carlo.
Please tell your friends about my blog. Thanks!
Bonsoir,
Beth
I will be posting some photos of Princess Gratia Patricia Kelly Grimaldi in the next few days. I just picked up my parents at the airport and they had a great time in Paris, Monaco and Nice. In the south of France they toured the palace in Monaco and visited the Casino at Monte Carlo.
Please tell your friends about my blog. Thanks!
Bonsoir,
Beth
Friday, October 9, 2009
Ava Gardner Festival This Weekend, October 9-10 in Smithfield,NC
This year’s festival will kickoff during the Ava Gardner Festival Gala this Friday evening, October 9th and will continue Saturday, October 10th from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.The theme for the fifth annual festival celebrates the special relationship Ava shared with Ernest Hemingway.
Ava called Ernest Hemingway "Papa," and he called her "Daughter." The accomplished author admired Ava's work in the films based on his works, and considered her "the most exciting woman of her generation."
During her career, Ava Gardner did three films based on Hemingway works: The Killers, The Sun Also Rises, and The Snows of Kilimanjaro. To celebrate their special relationship, these films will be shown at the Howell Theater, 141 South Third Street in Downtown Smithfield, on Saturday, October 10th. The films are free to the public but the capacity of the screening room is limited to 150 people. The Killers will be shown at 9:30am, The Snows of Kilimanjaro at 12:00pm, and The Sun Also Rises at 2:30pm.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Character Actor Corner: Charles Coburn
Born in Macon, Georgia in 1877, Charles Coburn was an actor whose talents allowed him to star on the stage, in motion pictures, and on radio and television. He was known for his trademark monacle. At age fourteen, when only a Program Boy at the Savannah Theater, Coburn began his love affair with acting. He eagerly accumulated valuable theater experience as an usher, doorman, treasurer, and finally at age eighteen, the theater manager. By twenty one, Coburn was regularly working as an actor in stock companies. He and his wife, Ivah Wills, formed their own successful touring company, The Coburn Players, in 1905 specializing in Shakespearian plays.
Coburn left the stage in grief following the death of his wife in 1937 and was persuaded to try out for character roles in motion pictures. Performing in over forty films between 1938 and 1959, Coburn received critical acclaim and in 1943 was awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The More the Merrier. He also starred in The Green Years,Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Monkey Business with Marilyn Monroe, and King's Row with Ronald Reagan. He also worked with Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve, and Bing Crosby in Mr. Music and Gregory Peck in The Paradine Case.
Coburn was particularly proud of being a Georgian, and he regularly visited the University of Georgia Library. Before his death in 1961, Coburn bequeathed to the Library all of his theatrical library and vast papers including scripts, scrapbooks, celebrity photographs, publicity photographs and motion picture stills. He died of a heart attack in New York City.
Abandon Ship! (1957)
Cast:
Tyrone Power ... Alec Holmes (Crescent Star Executive Officer)
Mai Zetterling ... Nurse Julie White
Lloyd Nolan ... Frank Kelly
Stephen Boyd ... Will McKinley (officer on Crescent Star)
Moira Lister ... Edith Middleton
James Hayter ... 'Cookie' Morrow
Marie Lohr ... Dorothy Knudson
Finlay Currie ... Mr. Wheaton
John Stratton ... Jimmy 'Sparks' Clary
Victor Maddern ... Willy Hawkins
Eddie Byrne ... Michael Faroni
Noel Willman ... Aubrey Clark
Moultrie Kelsall ... Daniel Cane
Robert Harris ... Arthur J. Middleton
Gordon Jackson ... John Merritt
Crew:
Director... Richard Sale
Produced by...
Ted Richmond .... executive producer
John R. Sloan .... producer
Tyrone Power .... producer (uncredited)
Original Music... Arthur Bliss
Cinematography...Wilkie Cooper
Film Editing...Raymond Poulton
Casting.... Paul Sheridan
Production Design...Wilfred Shingleton
Art Direction...Ray Simm (as Raymond Sim)
Makeup Department
Joan Smallwood .... hair stylist
Neville Smallwood .... makeup artist
Production Management
R.L.M. Davidson .... production manager
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David Eady .... second unit director
Basil Keys .... assistant director
Art Department
Basil Mannin .... scenic artist
Sound Department
John Cox .... sound supervisor
Red Law .... sound recordist
Winston Ryder .... sound editor
Bill Salter .... sound recordist (as W.S. Salter)
Special Effects ...Wally Veevers
Camera and Electrical Department
Eric Gray .... still photographer
Ronnie Taylor .... camera operator
Maurice Gillett .... supervising electrician (uncredited)
Skeets Kelly .... camera operator: second unit (uncredited)
Editorial Department
Valerie Leslie .... assembly cutter
Music Department
Muir Mathieson .... conductor
Plot:
Based on a true story, the luxury cruise liner the SS Crescent Star strikes a discarded land mine in the South Atlantic and sinks in the ensuing explosion. Of the ship's 1,156 passengers, few survive. Among them is Executive Officer Alec Holmes (Tyrone Power), who clings to the flotsam of the ruined vessel. There are others clinging to the wreckage. Then, Alec sees ship's nurse Julie White (Mai Zetterling ), with whom he is in love, foundering in the water, he swims out to save her. From a lifeboat in the distance, Will McKinley (Stephen Boyd), one of the ship's officers, beckons to Alec and Julie to join them. Alec abandons the survivors on the wreckage and swims toward Julie. When Alec and Julie get to the boat, Alec realizes that the boat, built to hold nine passengers, is in danger of capsizing. Once Alec is onboard , the ship's fatally injured captain,passes his command and his cherished ring to Alec, admonishing him to "save as many as he can." After Darrow dies, Alec dons the captain's jacket, then orders his body cast over the side. Meanwhile, Frank Kelly (Lloyd Nolan) is critically injured and close to death. He is a friend of Alec's and was also an officer on the ship. Noland's performance is gut wrenching and outstanding. There are several other crises and all 27 survivors have there own storyline in the movie. To add to the chaos, a shark is circleing the boat. Who will live and who will die? You will have to watch it to find out.
Costumes:
White nautical uniforms, Life Jackets, Wet Clothing,a tux and one formal dress.
Quotes:
Alec: "The Dog Stays, we can not eat human beings." "We can eat a dog!"
Edith Middleton: on Alec..... "Now there's a Man!"
Trivia:
Outside the U.S. it was titled Seven Waves Away.
Funny Scene (one you should not miss):
Watch the shark footage! I thought it was a dolphin. Also, the entire movie was shot in a tank. In reality, someone would have been the shark's dinner.
Review:
Two survivors are left for dead after Alec leaves the wreckage to swim toward the boat and Julie. There is even a dog floating on the wreckage. The movie does not clear up what happened to them. Did they live or die? In spite of this, trust me you will enjoy this movie. I think it was better than Lifeboat.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Character Actor Corner: Lloyd Nolan
This very familar face played in 156 roles in all types of media. A cop,doctor,soilder or father are the roles that he was most cast in. The son of a San Francisco shoe factory owner, American actor Lloyd Nolan made it clear early on that he had no intention of entering the family business. Nolan developed an interest in acting while in college. He flunked out of Stanford because he spent most of his time in amateur theatricals. He then entered Santa Clara College. He then landed a job on a freighter. When the ship sank due to a fire, he headed for Hollywood.
In 1927, he began studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, living on the inheritance left him by his father. Stock company work followed, and in 1933 Nolan scored a Broadway hit as vengeful small-town dentist Biff Grimes in One Sunday Afternoon (a role played in three film versions by Gary Cooper, James Cagney, and Dennis Morgan, respectively -- but never by Nolan). Nolan's first film was Stolen Harmony (1935); his breezy urban manner and Gaelic charm saved the actor from being confined to the bad guy parts he played so well, and by 1940 Nolan was, if not a star, certainly one of Hollywood's most versatile second-echelon leading men. As film historian William K. Everson has pointed out, the secret to Nolan's success was his integrity -- the audience respected his characters, even when he was the most cold-blooded of villains. The closest Nolan got to film stardom was a series of B detective films made at 20th Century-Fox from 1940 to 1942, in which he played private eye Michael Shayne -- a "hard-boiled dick" character long before Humphrey Bogart popularized this type as Sam Spade. In 1945, he appeared as Officer McShane in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. His role as Dr. Swain in Peyton Place is my favorite Noland role. Nolan was willing to tackle any sort of acting, from movies to stage to radio, and ultimately television, where he starred as detective Martin Kane in 1951; later TV stints would include a season as an IRS investigator in the syndicated Special Agent 7 (1958), and three years as grumpy-growley Dr. Chegley on the Diahann Carroll sitcom Julia (1969-1971). In 1953, Nolan originated the role of the paranoid Captain Queeg in the Broadway play The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, wherein he'd emerge from a pleasant backstage nap to play some of the most gut-wrenching "character deterioration" scenes ever written. Never your typical Hollywood celebrity, Nolan publicly acknowledged that he and his wife had an autistic son, proudly proclaiming each bit of intellectual or social progress the boy would make -- this at a time when many image-conscious movie star-parents barely admitted even having children, normal or otherwise. Well liked by his peers, Nolan was famous (in an affectionate manner) for having a photographic memory for lines but an appallingly bad attention span in real life; at times he was unable to give directions to his own home, and when he did so the directions might be three different things to three different people. A thorough professional to the last, Nolan continued acting in sizeable roles into the 1980s; he was terrific as Maureen O'Sullivan's irascible stage-star husband in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Lloyd Nolan's last performance was as an aging soap opera star on an episode of the TV series Murder She Wrote. He died after he completed filming, at age 83.
In 1927, he began studying at the Pasadena Playhouse, living on the inheritance left him by his father. Stock company work followed, and in 1933 Nolan scored a Broadway hit as vengeful small-town dentist Biff Grimes in One Sunday Afternoon (a role played in three film versions by Gary Cooper, James Cagney, and Dennis Morgan, respectively -- but never by Nolan). Nolan's first film was Stolen Harmony (1935); his breezy urban manner and Gaelic charm saved the actor from being confined to the bad guy parts he played so well, and by 1940 Nolan was, if not a star, certainly one of Hollywood's most versatile second-echelon leading men. As film historian William K. Everson has pointed out, the secret to Nolan's success was his integrity -- the audience respected his characters, even when he was the most cold-blooded of villains. The closest Nolan got to film stardom was a series of B detective films made at 20th Century-Fox from 1940 to 1942, in which he played private eye Michael Shayne -- a "hard-boiled dick" character long before Humphrey Bogart popularized this type as Sam Spade. In 1945, he appeared as Officer McShane in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. His role as Dr. Swain in Peyton Place is my favorite Noland role. Nolan was willing to tackle any sort of acting, from movies to stage to radio, and ultimately television, where he starred as detective Martin Kane in 1951; later TV stints would include a season as an IRS investigator in the syndicated Special Agent 7 (1958), and three years as grumpy-growley Dr. Chegley on the Diahann Carroll sitcom Julia (1969-1971). In 1953, Nolan originated the role of the paranoid Captain Queeg in the Broadway play The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, wherein he'd emerge from a pleasant backstage nap to play some of the most gut-wrenching "character deterioration" scenes ever written. Never your typical Hollywood celebrity, Nolan publicly acknowledged that he and his wife had an autistic son, proudly proclaiming each bit of intellectual or social progress the boy would make -- this at a time when many image-conscious movie star-parents barely admitted even having children, normal or otherwise. Well liked by his peers, Nolan was famous (in an affectionate manner) for having a photographic memory for lines but an appallingly bad attention span in real life; at times he was unable to give directions to his own home, and when he did so the directions might be three different things to three different people. A thorough professional to the last, Nolan continued acting in sizeable roles into the 1980s; he was terrific as Maureen O'Sullivan's irascible stage-star husband in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Lloyd Nolan's last performance was as an aging soap opera star on an episode of the TV series Murder She Wrote. He died after he completed filming, at age 83.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Part 3...To Sir with Love..I Could Go on Singing
Cast:
Judy Garland ... Jenny Bowman
Dirk Bogarde ... David Donne
Jack Klugman ... George Kogan
Gregory Phillips ... Matt
Aline MacMahon ... Ida
Pauline Jameson ... Miss Plimpton
Jeremy Burnham ... Hospital surgeon
and guests:
Russell Waters
Leon Cortez
Gerald Sim
Joey Luft ... extra on boat
Lorna Luft ... extra on boat
Produced by: Stuart Millar and Lawrence Turman
Directed by: Ronald Neame
Assistant Director: Colin Brewer
Screenplay by: Mayo Simon
Story by: Robert Dozier
Title Song: "I Could Go On Singing," Music by Harold Arlen, Lyrics by E. Y. Harburg
Music by: Mort Lindsey
Musical Supervisor: Saul Chaplin
Music Director: Mort Lindsey
Production Designer: Wilfred Shingleton
Set Decorator: John Hoesli
Miss Garland's Costumes: Edith Head
Additional Costumes: Beatrice Dawson
Makeup: Harold Fletcher
Hair Stylist: Pearl Tipaldi
Sound: Buster Ambler, Red Law
Director of Photography: Arthur Ibbetson
Filmed in Panavision, Color by Technicolor
Editor: John Shirley
Review:
This is the final installment of my three part tribute to Dirk Bogarde. Judy Garland stars in the semi-autobiographical role of Jenny Bowman, Judy Garland gives an amazingly vulnerable performance. This was her last movie. The story has Jenny reuniting with her prepubescent son, Matthew, whom Jenny surrendered to her doctor lover David (Dirk Bogarde) after the two broke up. Raised as an adopted orphan, Matthew has no idea David is his real father, or that David's "friend" Jenny is his birth mother. When David reluctantly agrees to let Jenny spend one day with Matthew, their reunion quickly gets out of hand as they bond and she longs to become a part of his life again.
She's in great vocal and physical form for the musical numbers. The songs included in the movie are:
- I Could Go On Singing (sung by Judy Garland behind titles)
- I Am the Monarch of the Sea (sung by Judy Garland and Boys)
- Hello Bluebird (sung by Judy Garland in concert)
- It Never Was You (sung by Judy Garland in concert)
- By Myself (sung by Judy Garland in concert)
- I Could Go On Singing (sung by Judy Garland)
Judy liked the soap-opera plot: “This big, big star goes to London to do a concert and finds the man who got away . . . It’s about me. I guess someone read my lyrics.”
Her hospital scene with Dirk Bogarde, where she talks about the life of a performer, has so much subtle shifting between emotions that it takes one's breath away. That alone should have earned her an Academy Award for this performance. I do not think that Judy is acting. These are her feelings, (not Jenny Bowman's) written into the script.
Bogarde, always an excellent actor, holds his own against the force of nature that is Garland by playing yin to her yang. He showed infinite patience, re-writing scenes for her.
It has to be said that the whole film crew spontaneously applauded the finest dramatic scene in the picture, the one that Dirk Bogarde wrote for himself and Judy. Propped up in a hospital room, Judy moved from drunken humor to defiance, to a tearful breakdown, and recovery all in one six-minute ‘take’.
Jack Klugman gives a good performance as her manager. One memoriable scene shows Judy reving herself up for her performance, and Klugman is cheering her on. Great!
It also has some very good helicopter footage of London. Judy also takes a boat trip on the Thames.
Costumes:
Early 60’s conservative attire. You can not go wrong with Edith Head as your costume designer. Judy has an really cute black dress with a mink in the hospital scene.
Quotes:
David Donne: They are waiting.
Jenny Bowman: I don't care if they're fasting, you just give them their money back and tell them to come back next fall.
Trivia:
Joey and Lorna Luft are extras in the Boat Scene.
Final Thoughts:
This movie is good. It has been critized for not having a lot of dialog. Dirk Bogarde is known for his stoic silence between lines. Dirk looks commanding and disapproving (especially icy in the early scenes), and the young actor playing her son manages to do it without being too cute. Neither tries to upstage Garland.
Just sit back and enjoy a travelogue of London with Judy!!! Remember, it’s not HAMLET!
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