Grace Kelly: GREEN FIRE, THE ROCKINGHAM TEA SET
Grace Kelly, Stewart Granger in Green Fire
Grace Kelly is once again the focal point of Turner Classic Movies‘ Thursday evening schedule. And as far as I’m concerned, next Thursday, Nov. 19, is going to be the most interesting of the Grace Kelly evenings this month.
The reason for that is simple: TCM will be showing the one Kelly feature I’ve yet to see — the Colombian-set adventure drama Green Fire (1954), co-starring Stewart Granger and Paul Douglas — and two of Kelly’s pre-stardom television vehicles that I’ve also yet to see — "The Rockingham Tea Set" (1950) and "The Kill" (1952), both made for the Studio One anthology series and both directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, best known [...]
by Andre Soares | November 16, 2009
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Tags: Classic Movies, Franklin J. Schaffner, Grace Kelly, Green Fire, Stewart Granger, Studio One, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, The Kill, The Rockingham Tea Set, Turner Classic Movies
Grace Kelly on TCM: REAR WINDOW, THE COUNTRY GIRL
James Stewart, Grace Kelly in Rear Window
Turner Classic Movies‘ Grace Kelly series continues this Thursday, Nov. 12, with three of Kelly’s biggest hits, all from 1954: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and The Country Girl. Kelly, who died in 1982 following a car accident in Monaco, would have turned 80 on Nov. 12.
Some consider Dial M for Murder a minor Alfred Hitchcock effort. Personally, I find it more enjoyable than Hitchcock’s revered Rear Window. Part of the reason is a pair of deadly scissors found in the former but not in the latter; yet, I’d say that the chief reason is that neither one of Kelly’s leading men in Dial M for Murder is James Stewart. Instead, [...]
by Andre Soares | November 10, 2009
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Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Classic Movies, Dial M for Murder, George Seaton, Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Oscar 1954, Oscar Movies, Ray Milland, Rear Window, The Country Girl, Thelma Ritter, Turner Classic Movies
Grace Kelly: TO CATCH A THIEF, THE SWAN
Grace Kelly on TCM: Part I
Thanks to Kelly’s Oscar win, The Country Girl is interesting as a historical curiosity — it’s the sort of "gutsy" and "realistic" film adaptation of a respected stage play that was very popular among the filmgoing elite of the 1950s (e.g., Tea and Sympathy, A Hatful of Rain), but that I generally find both lame and artificial. Bing Crosby’s drunk is about as convincing as Kelly’s frumpish housewife (a role that should have gone to original choice Jennifer Jones), but that didn’t prevent a number of Academy members from making sure Crosby, director George Seaton, and the film itself received Academy Award nominations. Seaton, in fact, did win an Oscar for his [...]
by Andre Soares | November 5, 2009
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Tags: Classic Movies, George Seaton, Grace Kelly, Green Fire, High Society, The Country Girl, The Rockingham Tea Set, The Swan, To Catch a Thief, Turner Classic Movies
Grace Kelly on TCM
Stating the obvious: most people take great pleasure in idealizing their idols — which is why idols are idols.
Whether we’re talking of gods, saints, prophets, or pop stars, the process is pretty much the same: flaws are expunged, deeds that never took place are turned into (at times miraculous) facts, the Pantheon of the Immortals becomes their abode following their earthly demise. (In some extreme cases — assorted gods, Elvis — the idol in question doesn’t die, period.)
Grace Kelly, Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month, is one of the lofty ones now dwelling in the aforementioned Pantheon. True, the flesh-and-bood Philadelphia-born (Nov. 12, 1929) woman (nee Grace Patricia Kelly) may have been quite different [...]
by Andre Soares | November 5, 2009
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Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Classic Movies, Dial M for Murder, George Seaton, Grace Kelly, Rear Window, The Country Girl, Turner Classic Movies
