Barbara Stanwyck on Turner Classic Movies
Summer Under the Stars
Barbara Stanwyck
Tuesday, August 19, highlights on Turner Classic Movies:
My understanding is that there have been precious few transformations more radical than that of Ruby Stevens of Brooklyn into Barbara Stanwyck of Hollywood — the highest-paid woman in the United States in 1944.
In my view, Barbara Stanwyck is one of the greatest film actresses ever; a performer nearly incapable of a phony moment on screen. Strangely, considering the kind of roles she took — sometimes sexy, sometimes malevolent, sometimes androgynous, sometimes all three (and more) — I’ve always found it curious that actresses like Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Katharine Hepburn could have large followings today while Stanwyck remains well-known mostly among Old Hollywood lovers.
Now, which of the Stanwyck films would I recommend?
Well, all. If Barbara Stanwyck is in it, then it’s worth watching no matter the plot, the direction, or the other performances.
But which ones would I particularly recommend?
Well, for starters, The Locked Door, a 1929 super-rarity that is a TCM (and probably a television) premiere. Don’t expect anything great, even though the film was directed by the capable George Fitzmaurice; after all, it’s 1929, the dawn of the creaky talkies. But The Locked Door, a remake of a silent Norma Talmadge vehicle (The Sign on the Door), offers a chance to catch a very early Stanwyck, in addition to silent-film star Rod La Rocque in one of his few starring roles in talking pictures. William "Stage" Boyd — not to be confused with William Boyd of the Hopalong Cassidy flicks — is also in the film. (The "Stage" Boyd had a nasty reputation, which sometimes got the Hopalong Boyd in trouble.)
Ten Cents a Dance should be seen because it’s also quite rare. It’s hardly a good film — a potboiler that isn’t nearly as saucy as one would have expected from a pre-Code production — but both Stanwyck and her legs do look great.
The best pre-Coder of the bunch is Baby Face, which was considered so immoral, so disgusting, so vile, so evil, so perverse, so depraved that it was temporarily taken out of circulation, recut, and redubbed so it could be released to the general God-fearing public without leading husbands to cheat on their mistresses, mothers to drink their children’s milk, or dogs to bite their owners. Baby Face was restored to its glorious sinfulness a few years ago. Not to be missed.
Schedule (Pacific Time) and synopses from the TCM website:
19 Tuesday
3:00 AM Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991)
Barbara Stanwyck’s multi-faceted career reveals uncanny reflections of her off-screen life. Cast: Sally Field, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper. Dir: Richard Schickel. C-46 mins.
4:00 AM Illicit (1931)
Young free-thinkers turn conventionally jealous when they marry. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, James Rennie, Ricardo Cortez. Dir: Archie Mayo. BW-80 mins.
5:30 AM Ten Cents A Dance (1931)
A taxi dancer with a jealous husband finds herself falling for a wealthy client. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley. Dir: Lionel Barrymore. BW-77 mins.
7:00 AM Night Nurse (1931)
A nurse discovers that the children she’s caring for are murder targets. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Clark Gable. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-72 mins.
8:15 AM Forbidden (1932)
On an ocean voyage, a librarian falls for a married man. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-85 mins.
9:45 AM Shopworn (1932)
A waitress falls for a wealthy young man but has to fight his mother to find happiness. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Regis Toomey, Zasu Pits. Dir: Nick Grinde. BW-66 mins.
11:00 AM Ever In My Heart (1933)
During World War I, a woman suspects her husband of being a German spy. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Otto Kruger, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Archie Mayo. BW-69 mins.
12:15 PM Baby Face (1933)
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, John Wayne. Dir: Alfred E. Green. BW-76 mins.
1:45 PM Bride Walks Out, The (1936)
A model weds a struggling engineer then has her own struggles with domesticity. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Gene Raymond, Robert Young. Dir: Leigh Jason. BW-81 mins.
3:15 PM You Belong to Me (1941)
A playboy marries a woman doctor then grows jealous of her male patients. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Edgar Buchanan. Dir: Wesley Ruggles. C-95 mins.
5:00 PM Locked Door, The (1929)
A woman once kidnapped by a wealthy womanizer tries to save her sister from him. Cast: Rod La Rocque, Barbara Stanwyck, William ‘Stage’ Boyd. Dir: George Fitzmaurice. BW-74 mins.
6:30 PM File On Thelma Jordon, The (1950)
A woman seduces a District Attorney and pulls him into a web of theft and murder. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly. Dir: Robert Siodmak. BW-100 mins.
8:15 PM Witness To Murder (1954)
A woman fights to convince the police that she witnessed a murder. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill. Dir: Roy Rowland. BW-82 mins.
9:45 PM Crime Of Passion (1957)
An executive’s wife barters sex for her husband’s business success. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr. Dir: Gerd Oswald. BW-86 mins. Letterbox Format
11:15 PM Clash By Night (1952)
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband’s best friend. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-105 mins.
1:00 AM B.F.’s Daughter (1948)
A professor doesn’t know his wife is an heiress. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Charles Coburn. Dir: Robert Z. Leonard. BW-108 mins.
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What about “The Lady Eve”?!One of my fav ever. Not only thanks to Barbara but also to great Henry Fonda and to the brilliant directing by Preston Sturges.
“The Lady Eve” is by far my favorite Preston Sturges comedy. I didn’t “recommend” it because it wasn’t included in TCM’s Barbara Stanwyck marathon.
Barbara STanwyck was also great in “The Two Mrs. Carrolls.” I haven’t seen that one in a long time, but I remember really liking it way back when.
Quite a collection! Lucky those who’ll be able to watch the TCM Tuesday (this from a poster down under).
“Baby Face” is a delightful pre-Code film — Ms. Stanwyck’s character is quite explicit in sleeping her way to the top of the corporate ladder and it’s all done in an almost acceptable way! Stunning and well worth watching.
“Night Nurse” is also a gem — but then again, I tend to be very partial to Ms. Stanwyck’s work. The pace is very fast, detractors of older days’ cinema won’t find cause to complain.
I haven’t seen “Clash by Nigh” in many, many years. I’d gotten the impression the line “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers” was delivered in the beginning, at a bar… But given “Streetcar”, I’d need to double check.
Ah! I’m so envious of TCM viewers! After watching them on Tuesday, I’d recommend watching 1939’s “Golden Boy”, then log on to “YouTube” and search for “Barbara Stanwyck William Holden Oscars” and you’ll be in for one of the most moving moments in Hollywood history.