Rebecca 1940: Joan Fontaine as the “successor” and Judith Anderson as the creepy lesbian housekeeper, madly in love with her deceased mistress. ‘Rebecca’ 1940: Alfred Hitchcock Best Picture Oscar winner back on Brazilian screens Based on Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel, Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood…
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Olivia de Havilland in ‘The Heiress.’ Olivia de Havilland vs. Warner Bros. (See previous post: “Olivia de Havilland Turns 99: Warner Bros. Legal Fight Changed U.S. Labor Law.”) In 1942, Olivia de Havilland reportedly turned down the colorless leading lady role in Raoul Walsh’s Gentleman…
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Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial ‘Gone with the Wind,’ little-seen ’21 Days Together’ on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies’ star today, Aug. 18, ’15, as TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was…
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Robert Walker: Actor played box-next-door types in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films of the 1940s and was at his best as the gay psychopathic murderer in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train. Robert Walker: Actor who conveyed boy-next-door charms, psychoses At least on screen, I’ve always…
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Teresa Wright The Men publicity shot: Her career was derailed following a nasty, public fight with independent mogul Samuel Goldwyn. Teresa Wright & Samuel Goldwyn association comes to a nasty, public end (See preceding post: “Career Highlight: Teresa Wright in The Best Years of Our…
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A Tale of Two Cities movie. Although not as widely known as other Old Hollywood spectacles, David O. Selznick’s film production of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, set during the time of the French Revolution, is far, far better than most of the…
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Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Jones, the widow of both Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick and industrialist Norton Simon, will have a number of her belongings auctioned. Jones, who died last year at the age of 90, was best known for her…
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Jennifer Jones in Portrait of Jennie: one of Luis Buñuel’s favorite films. Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Jones dead at 90: Best remembered for her portrayals of troubled, complex women Best Actress Academy Award winner Jennifer Jones, the star of the 1940s blockbusters The Song…
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The Prisoner of Zenda 1937 with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. vs. Ronald Colman. A moderately popular leading man in the early 1930s, mostly as either obnoxious or lackluster “heroes” in forgettable fare such as Loose Ankles and I Like Your Nerve, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. reached what…
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Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in The Prisoner of Zenda 1937. The son of silent screen superstar Douglas Fairbanks and a middle-league – and generally lackluster – leading man in the first half of the 1930s, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was at his very best as the villainous…
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How long is Gone with the Wind? Long enough for Clark Gable to watch Vivien Leigh grow from teenage belle to womanly Civil War survivor. “Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939” is the title of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and…
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Under Full Sail. Under Full Sail - Silent Cinema on the High Seas Flicker Alley (website) in association with the Blackhawk Film Collection has announced the release of “Under Full Sail – Silent Cinema on the High Seas,” a new DVD release featuring, as per…
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B film noir Detour with Tom Neal and Ann Savage, looking more like your usual femme fatale. In the U.K., the Monthly Film Bulletin reviewer thoroughly dismissed Detour – but not Ann Savage – writing, “This very poor story has little to commend it. It…