Miriam Hopkins movies on TCM: ‘Summer Under the Stars’ continues with no rarities but many goodies
Miriam Hopkins, one of the most underrated performers of the studio era, will have her “Summer Under the Stars” day on Thursday, Aug. 20.
Turner Classic Movies will present fourteen Miriam Hopkins films, including one TCM premiere – the Samuel Goldwyn production of Barbary Coast – and three of Hopkins’ saucy pre-Code vehicles made at Paramount.
Although there are no Hopkins rarities in the program – TCM must lease the Universal library, which contains both the Universal and Paramount classics – it’s great to have a day dedicated to an actress who, no matter how good, has been usually dismissed because of her off-screen behavior.
Far more than merely ‘difficult’
As discussed elsewhere on this site – including in a Hopkins interview with author Allan Ellenberger, who’s currently working on a biography of the actress – Miriam Hopkins’ lasting claim to fame is that she was difficult.
Fredric March accused her of trying to steal his scenes in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Edward G. Robinson dissed her in his autobiography while also inferring that she was a right-winger (when, at least later in life, she was anything but). Edmund Goulding almost lost it while trying to control her on the set of The Old Maid.
And Bette Davis called her “a bitch.”
(As quoted in Matthew Kennedy’s biography Edmund Goulding’s Dark Victory, Hopkins had referred to Davis as “a greedy little girl at a party-table who just had to sample other women’s cupcakes.” One of those cupcakes had been Hopkins’ husband, filmmaker Anatole Litvak, with whom Davis had an affair the year before the two actresses shared the screen in The Old Maid.)
So, perhaps Hopkins was difficult, but then again she wasn’t the only one. And just as importantly, in front of the cameras she was remarkably effective in both comedies and dramas. You can see it for yourself come next Thursday. In fact, this reviewer would recommend every single Miriam Hopkins movie simply because she is in it. That said, below are several more ardent recommendations.
These Three (1936)
William Wyler had directed Miriam Hopkins the previous decade in These Three, one of the most “adult” movies of the 1930s – even if not quite as adult as it would have been had the filmmakers been allowed to keep the lesbian subplot found in Lillian Hellman’s play.
In this bowdlerized version, bratty Bonita Granville’s lie has to do with a love triangle involving Hopkins, Merle Oberon (who’s also very good), and Joel McCrea. (Hopkins would later land the role of the ditzy aunt – here beautifully played by Catherine Doucet – in Wyler’s 1961 remake, which restored the lesbian elements to the plot.)
The Old Maid (1939)
In The Old Maid, Miriam Hopkins completely eclipses Bette Davis, badly miscast as a bitter spinster who made one false move back in her younger days (the result was Jane Bryan). Edmund Goulding’s classy direction; the Warner Bros. artists’, artisans’, and technicians’ glossy work; and Hopkins’ sensitive, mature performance turn a potentially syrupy melodrama into a compelling one.
The Heiress (1949)
The Heiress isn’t really a Miriam Hopkins vehicle, as it belongs to Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland (who, by the way, got along quite well with the older actress). And even though I don’t think The Heiress shows Hopkins at her best, I must recommend it because it’s one of the most “adult” movies of the 1940s, while de Havilland is outstanding as the ugly duckling who learns life’s lessons the hard way. William Wyler directed from a screenplay by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapting their own play, which in turn was based on Henry James’ novel Washington Square.
The plot: A handsome fortune hunter (Montgomery Clift) preys on a plain but wealthy young woman (de Havilland) in mid-19th-century New York City.
Three Hopkins-Lubitsch collaborations
And finally, Miriam Hopkins’ three Paramount comedies: The Smiling Lieutenant, Trouble in Paradise, and Design for Living, all directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who was apparently at one point madly in love with his star. Trouble in Paradise is the best of the three, but they’re all worth a look even if only because of the performances, their pre-Code sensibility, and the Lubitsch touch.
If Maurice Chevalier is his usual hammy self in The Smiling Lieutenant, Hopkins and Claudette Colbert are thoroughly charming as the two women who (however inexplicably) are in love with/lust after him. (Check out their “Jazz Up Your Lingerie” number.)
Hopkins, Herbert Marshall, and Kay Francis are all pitch-perfect in Trouble in Paradise, which features another love triangle.
And Design for Living boasts what could have been the love triangle for the ages – Hopkins sandwiched between Fredric March and Gary Cooper – if only they had added a heavier dose of pansexuality to the proceedings. But there was a limit to what Hollywood filmmakers could do even before the Production Code came into full effect.
Virginia City (1940)
Lastly, Virginia City isn’t the greatest Western ever made, but Hopkins, Errol Flynn, and Randolph Scott are all good in it, while Old Acquaintance provided Bette Davis with the opportunity to give Hopkins a violent shake-up. That moment alone makes the film worthwhile.
Miriam Hopkins movies: TCM schedule (EDT)
6:00 AM The Chase (1966)
Director: Arthur Penn.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Angie Dickinson, James Fox, Janice Rule, Richard Bradford, Martha Hyer, Miriam Hopkins, E.G. Marshall, Jocelyn Brando, Henry Hull, Bruce Cabot, Diana Hyland, Robert Duvall, Paul Williams.
133m8:15 AM The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
Director: William A. Seiter.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Fay Wray.
76m9:45 AM Wise Girl (1937)
Director: Leigh Jason.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Ray Milland, Walter Abel.
70m11:00 AM Woman Chases Man (1937)
Director: John G. Blystone.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, Charles Winninger.
69m12:15 PM The Old Maid (1939)
Director: Edmund Goulding.
Cast: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, George Brent, Jane Bryan, Donald Crisp, Louise Fazenda, James Stephenson, Jerome Cowan, William Lundigan, Cecilia Loftus, William Hopper.
95m2:00 PM Old Acquaintance (1943)
Director: Vincent Sherman.
Cast: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Gig Young, John Loder, Dolores Moran, Anne Revere, Esther Dale.
110m4:00 PM Virginia City (1940)
Director: Michael Curtiz.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, Alan Hale, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Frank McHugh, Dickie Jones.
121m6:00 PM The Heiress (1949)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Vanessa Brown, Ray Collins, Mona Freeman, Selena Royle, Russ Conway.
115m8:00 PM The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch.
Cast: Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins.
89m9:45 PM Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch.
Cast: Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis.
82m11:15 PM Design for Living (1933)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch.
Cast: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Gary Cooper, Edward Everett Horton, Jane Darwell, Isabel Jewell, Franklin Pangborn.
91m1:00 AM Barbary Coast (1935)
Director: Howard Hawks.
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea.
90m2:45 AM These Three (1936)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, Catherine Doucet, Alma Kruger, Bonita Granville, Marcia Mae Jones, Margaret Hamilton.
93m4:30 AM Lady with Red Hair (1940)
Director: Curtis Bernhardt.
Cast: Miriam Hopkins, Claude Rains, Richard Ainley.
78m
“Miriam Hopkins Movies on TCM” notes
Kay Francis, Herbert Marshall, and Miriam Hopkins Trouble in Paradise image: Courtesy Turner Classic Movies.