Train Bellies

"Donnie Darko" and "Zodiac" among the 50 best uses of songs in film

2012-01-23T01:03:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Graysmith in "Zodiac" (2007) directed by David Fincher

22. “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” Donovan, Zodiac (2007)
This near-primal scene starts with two young adults flirting in a Corvair at a lovers’ lane, until the headlights of a mysterious car pull up behind them. Suddenly, the song on the radio can only signify evil. By the time David Fincher returns to Donovan’s sinuous groove in his closing credits, the tune has been transformed. (A clearer clip of the scene is here.)—JR

Jake Gyllenhaal as Donald Darko in "Donnie Darko" (2001) directed by Richard Kelly

36. “Head Over Heels,” Tears for Fears, Donnie Darko (2001)
In a terrific early scene from Richard Kelly’s cult debut, Jake Gyllenhaal’s depressive, time-traveling outcast takes a long walk down his high-school hallway. Assembled into a single, unbroken take, it’s as if we’re gliding through one morning in our own angst-ridden teen existence—but with a better soundtrack.—KU Source: newyork.timeout.com

Gene Kelly ("My Love For You") video

2012-01-23T00:33:00.000-08:00

Gene Kelly ("My Love For You") video featuring pictures and stills of Gene Kelly and his female co-stars: Judy Garland in 'For me and my gal', 'The Pirate' and 'Summer Stock', Deanna Durbin in 'Christmas Holiday', Kathryn Grayson in 'Thousands Cheer' and 'Anchors Aweigh', Rita Hayworth and Jinx Falkenburg in 'Cover Girl', Vera-Ellen in 'On the Town', Teresa Celli in 'Black Hand', Leslie Caron in 'An American in Paris', Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen in 'Singing in the Rain', Cyd Charisse in 'Singing in the Rain', 'Brigadoon' and 'It's Always Fair Weather', Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg in 'Les Girls', Natalie Wood in 'Marjorie Morningstar', Shirley MacLaine in 'What a Way to Go', etc.

Soundtrack: The Glenn Miller Orchestra - 'My Love For You', 'My Ideal', 'People Will Say We're In Love', and Helen Forrest & Artie Shaw Orchestra - 'Love Is Here'

Gene Kelly and Vera-Ellen in the first dance noir

2012-01-21T20:00:00.000-08:00

Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly as Abigail Martin and Robert Manette in "Christmas Holiday" (1944) directed by Robert Siodmak. With script by Herman J. Mankiewicz ("Dinner at Eight", "The Pride of the Yankees", "Citizen Kane") based on W. Somerset Maugham's novel.

"Kelly’s grin here becomes the Devil’s, he comes home with blood-stained trousers and finally materializes to "straighten out the family"; Durbin first sees him at a recital of Liebestod and then performs "Always" to celebrate their union. "I guess maybe there’s another meaning to love than what I was taught," Harens says after hearing the tale. Melodic noir, and unsettling delirium -- the ripely masochistic former child-star and the stubbly, grounded dancer face each other in the shadows, and Siodmak wonders how America got to this point. (Hitchcock similarly reimagines Robert Walker in 'Strangers on a Train')." Source: www.cinepassion.org

"Starring in the role of the homme fatal and also playing against type is the master of acrobatic dance, Gene Kelly. That said, in an obvious tongue in cheek move there is a scene in which Kelly asks Durbin to dance. Precisely upon the point of arriving on the dance floor the band concludes the number and the dance never comes off". Source: www.noiroftheweek.com

Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly in "Words and Music" (1948) directed by Norman Taurog

"Set in a sleazy New York neighborhood, Kelly's Dancer encounters the wonderful Vera-Ellen as The Blonde. The couple dance seductively, and their mutual interest seems to grow as the music changes to a breezy, cheerful melody. Together they enter a saloon that seems to be populated by the city's finest gangsters and prostitutes. The music grows jazzy...the couple is smitten with each other. Vera-Ellen is the epitome of sensuality with her short skirt and seductive manner. Gene is equally seductive in what could possibly be his sexiest outfit as he dances a very masculine "ballet" to win the girl over". Source: genescene.blogspot.com

Vera-Ellen and Gene Kelly performing in the tragic ballet "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" composed by Richard Rodgers from the 1948 movie "Words and Music".

Gene Kelly stated to several writers that he considered Vera-Ellen among the very best dancers in film. Vera-Ellen learned from Gene Kelly how to dance with deep-felt emotion. She portrays a saucy Bowery girl with a wild blonde wig, a too-tigh yellow top and a bright orange skirt slit almost too far up the side, all cinched with a thick black belt with overlange ring buckle.

As she struts in under the Tenth Avenue she attracts the attention of a local thug (played by choreographer/dancer Jack Baker) who makes a crude pass at her. Quickly we learn her interest in focused on Gene Kelly's tenement flat. Kelly, at his most muscular and athletic, rises from bed and climbs down to the street where Vera is strutting, preening and slithering around him, even rubbing herself up against a phallic pole. It is a mating call and Kelly takes the bait. Once again she moves away from him, but they finally end their teasing courtship and come together in a sensuous dance as he dips and drags her body along the street.

Vera-Ellen: This dance not only changed my career, it changed me. From Gene Kelly I learned the modern knee drops, slides, and the earthy, almost brutal, approach to rhythm. Gene and me worked ten weeks on the number and when I was through with it I was also a different person; my walk changed and I even switched from a flower-scented perfume to something called 'Shameless'. Gene really influenced my life. For my money, he's just about the greatest in the business.

Staged by Gene Kelly, the "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue" number was serious, different from Ray Bolger's slaphappy dance routine. It has been termed the first "dance noir", echoing the popular film noir genre of the '40s.

Vera Ellen went on to work with Gene Kelly again in the classic 'On the Town' (1949) directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly.

Gabey (Gene Kelly) and Ivy (Vera-Ellen) discuss where they should meet in the film "On the Town":

Gabey: Top of the Empire State Building.
Ivy Smith: But it's so high up!
Gabey: Oh it won't seem high to me. I'm in the clouds right now.

At the University of Arizona, once a year, there is a Vera-Ellen day in the "Art History of the Cinema" class, right there next to Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly. TCM, American Movie Classics and the American One network with their periodic revivals of classics such as 'Words and Music', 'Three Little Words', 'White Christmas', 'Happy Go Lovely', 'The Belle of New York' and 'On the Town' have made a whole new generation ask: "Who was that amazingly talented Vera-Ellen and what happened to her? -"Vera-Ellen: The Magic and the Mystery" by David Soren (2008)

Jake Gyllenhaal eats lunch at Angelini Osteria

2012-01-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal joined a friend for lunch at LA's Angelini Osteria restaurant on 19th January 2012.

Jake Gyllenhaal out for sushi with Adam Levine & friends in LA, on 18th January 2012

Jake's been spotted all over Hollywood in recent days following his appearance at Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony.

Gene Kelly: "Ode to Joy" & "Cosmic Dancer"

2012-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

Gene Kelly (Ode to Joy) video featuring pictures and stills of Gene Kelly and his female co-stars: Judy Garland in 'For me and my gal', 'The Pirate' and 'Summer Stock', Deanna Durbin in 'Christmas Holiday', Kathryn Grayson in 'Thousands Cheer' and 'Anchors Aweigh', Rita Hayworth in 'Cover Girl', Vera Ellen in 'On the Town', Teresa Celli in 'Black Hand', Leslie Caron in 'An American in Paris', Debbie Reynolds and Jean Hagen in 'Singing in the Rain', Cyd Charisse in 'Singing in the Rain', 'Brigadoon' and 'It's Always Fair Weather', Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg in 'Les Girls', Natalie Wood in 'Marjorie Morningstar', Shirley MacLaine in 'What a Way to Go', etc.

Soundtrack: 'Ode to Joy' Symphony # 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven

Soundtrack: Song "Cosmic Dancer" by Marc Bolan and The Glenn Miller Orchestra: 'I Love You', 'In the Mood'

Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse in a promotional still of "Brigadoon" (1954) directed by Vincente Minnelli

Lobby card featuring Ernie Kovacs and Cyd Charisse in "Five Golden Hours", 1961

Short noir film directed by Ernie Kovacs

“Anna [Karina] is an actress and who arrives in New York. She goes to see Gene Kelly and she says to him, “I am a French actress, I admire you, can’t you find me some work?”Finally it’s the discovery of America by this girl from within seven or eight great genres of the American cinema. Then Gene Kelly says, “But no, my little girl, the musical comedy is finished, the great stage at MGM no longer exists.” Then they go into the street and it becomes a little bit musical.

Then, I don’t know what, she needs money, she steals money, she meets people and it becomes a criminal episode. I would have wanted, for example, for her to get hired as a maid, or a gardener, or whatever, by Faulkner.” —Jean-Luc Godard on an unrealized project that was to star Anna Karina, Gene Kelly, and William Faulkner. The project was abandoned after Faulkner’s death on July, 6 1962.

Jake Gyllenhaal - Breakfast at Square One with Busy Phillips in Los Angeles

2012-01-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

Busy Philipps and her husband Marc Silverstein took their 3-year-old daughter Birdie out to breakfast on Saturday (January 14). Their good friend Jake Gyllenhaal also came along to eat at Los Angeles restaurant Square One. The two actors greeted each other with a hug, with Jake also stroking Birdie's hair. Source: celebritybabyscoop.com

Jake Gyllenhaal and Busy Phillips having breakfast at Square One in Los Angeles, on 14th January 2012

Jake at Golden Globes, Michelle Williams: Winner for "My Week with Marilyn"

2012-01-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards (Ceremony Rehearsals)

Jake Gyllenhaal presented the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, on 15th January 2012

Michelle Williams poses as Marilyn Monroe in Vogue Germany magazine (February 2012), photoshoot by Brigitte Lacombe

Michelle Williams won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in "Ly Week with Marilyn" (2011)

Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer

2012-01-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

Some clips from "Gene Kelly: Anatomy of a Dancer" (2002) directed by Robert Trachtenberg

It became obvious after awhile that Gene Kelly, the natural athlete, (particularly adept at hockey and baseball) had been kissed by the goddess of dance, Terpsichore. His mother Harriet took over a failed dancing studio and her middle son quickly established himself as a natural teacher and choreographer, with a winning way with young people. Graduating at 16 while holding down several jobs, Kelly looked to university (Penn State) as his next challenge. He switched his major from journalism to economics and soon realized while helping the family weather the Depression, there might be a future for him in entertainment.

June Havoc playing Gladys and Gene Kelly playing Joey Evans in "Pal Joey" on Broadway

Kelly's big break came on Christmas night 1940 with his breakthrough role of Joey Evans, a second-rate nightclub entertainer in 1930s Chicago, in which he meets and falls in love with Linda.

Timeless, effortless, elegant and indelible as the 50th anniversary of Singin' in the Rain approaches (the film was first released on 27th March 1952 in New York City), Gene Kelly's body of work still thrives and still thrills. With films that also include 'An American in Paris', 'Summer Stock', 'On the Town' and 'Brigadoon', Kelly revived the movie musical and redefined dance on screen, bringing with him an inspired sensibility and an original vitality. He endeared himself to audiences and had a profound, eternal impact on the craft. A lasting influence in the worlds of film and dance, his first major film success came at the age of thirty and a short ten years later, he had made his final hit film.

Ironically, Kelly was put under contract at Selznick International by Mayers son-in-law David O. Selznick, who had no interest in producing musicals and thought Kelly could exist purely as a dramatic actor. With no roles forthcoming, Kelly was loaned out to MGM to co-star with Judy Garland in 'For Me and My Gal'. The film was a hit and Selznick subsequently sold the actor and his contract to MGM.

A series of mediocre roles followed and it was not until Kelly was loaned out to Columbia for 1944s 'Cover Girl', with Rita Hayworth, that he became firmly established as a star. His landmark alter ego sequence, in which he partnered with himself, brought film dance to a new level of special effects. With Stanley Donen as his assistant, Kelly created a sense of the psychological and integrated story telling never before seen in a Hollywood musical.

Gene Kelly and Kathryn Grayson in "Thousands Cheer" (1943) directed by George Sidney

Realizing what they had, MGM refused to ever loan him out again, ruining Kellys opportunity to star in the film versions of 'Guys and Dolls', 'Pal Joey' and even 'Sunset Boulevard'. Back with producer Arthur Freed at MGM, Kelly continued his innovative approach to material by placing himself in a cartoon environment to dance with Jerry the Mouse in 'Anchors Aweigh' (1945).

During his marriage to the actress Betsy Blair, Kelly was radicalized and the couple became well known for their liberal politics. In 1947, when the Carpenters Union went on strike and the Hollywood studios were looking for an intermediary to intervene on their behalf, Kelly was chosen much to everyone's surprise. He traveled back and forth from Culver City to union headquarters in Chicago for two months, mediating a strike that was costing the studios dearly. When a settlement was finally reached, Kelly was shocked to learn that the studios felt it was unfair and that they had been cheated by his siding with the strikers. Naively and genuinely trying to help and unaware of unstated expectations, underhanded tactics, and slush funds Kelly's efforts only resulted in further exacerbating his relationship with Louis B. Mayer.

He was, however, able to continue refining and showcasing his unique appeal with standout numbers in 'The Pirate' and 'Words and Music', among other films. Determined from the start to differentiate himself from Fred Astaire, Kelly concerned himself with incorporating less ballroom dancing and more distinctly American athleticism into his choreography.

Finally, Kelly and Stanley Donen were assigned their own film to co-direct 1949s 'On the Town'. In just five days of shooting selected sequences, they opened up the genre as no one had ever done before, creating another first a musical film shot on location. Followed by his two masterworks, 'An American in Paris', with its 17-minute ballet sequence, and 'Singin in the Rain', Kelly achieved icon status at the age of forty. In 1951, he was awarded a special Oscar for 'An American in Paris' for his “extreme versatility as an actor, singer, director and dancer, but specifically for his brilliant achievement in the art of choreography.”

Tony Martin visits his wife Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly on the set of "Brigadoon" (1954) directed by Vincente Minnelli

The musical era, as well as the Freed unit at MGM, wind to a close and Kelly's last productions, including 'Brigadoon' and the ambitious 'It's Always Fair Weather', failed to appeal to either critics or the public. The latter film also brought a bitter end to his partnership with Stanley Donen. The two had made history together in their three previous films the only successful directorial collaboration in Hollywood, before or since.

But professional and personal conflict lead to the breakup, including the fact that Donen's wife, Jeanne Coyne, had fallen in love with Kelly. With Kelly's own marriage to Betsy Blair in dissolution, both couples divorced and Kelly eventually married Coyne in 1960.

In the late 1950s, the television show OMNIBUS invited Kelly to create a documentary about the relationship between dance and athletics 'Dancing: A Mans Game' is considered one of the classic treasures from televisions golden age. However, the hit Kelly so badly craved and needed as director of the film 'Hello Dolly', eluded him, unable to compete in a market that now included such movies as 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Easy Rider'.

Jeanne Coyne died of leukemia in 1973, leaving Kelly to raise their two young children alone. In his determination to be a better father than he had been to his first daughter, Kelly refused all work that would take him away from Los Angeles, including the offer to direct the film 'Cabaret' in Munich. He tried series television, guest appearances, childrens records and became a frequent advisor to younger filmmakers who were hoping to resurrect the movie musical. At his death in 1996, it was said of Kelly, he went downhill so fast you hardly saw him go.

Yet, the potency of Kellys gifts, his remarkable achievements in dance and choreography and the creativity and charisma with which he exploded in a handful of films continues to endure and to inform. Gene Kellys final filmed words are from 1994s Thats Entertainment III quoting Irving Berlin, he remarked: “The song has ended, but the melody lingers on.” And, so too has Kelly himself. He was number 15 on AFIs millennium list of most popular actors and 'Singin in the Rain' has been voted the singular most popular movie musical of all time". Source: www.pbs.org

Q: So what do you think Kelly’s appeal was?

A: You know right before I started the film, this very young woman was in my office repairing my computer and my assistant turned to her and said, “What happens when I say Gene Kelly to you?” and she instantly said, “I smile.” The guy was a movie star in the classic sense of the word — he had that X quality that you cannot define. But he actually had the talent to back up the sheer charisma. He was very frank in some of his archival interviews, his appeal really transcends and even filters down to the movie audience of today. When I was around him, he was still getting fan mail from thirteen-year old girls! Source: www.pbs.org

"I didnt want to move or act like a rich man. I wanted to dance in a pair of jeans. I wanted to dance like the man in the streets". –Gene Kelly

Jean Dujardin, Gene Kelly, John Garfield

2012-01-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

Natalie Portman will present the Golden Globes Awards 2012!

Natalie Portman attending the Golden Globes on 15th January 2012

Joining Natalie in presentation duties will be Jake Gyllenhaal, Nicole Kidman, Clive Owen, Melissa McCarthy, Salma Hayek, and more! Be sure to tune into the Golden Globes on Sunday (January 15) on NBC! Ed Helms, Julianna Margulies and Natalie Portman will join Actor nominee Armie Hammer, SAG Awards® social network ambassador Regina King and SAG President Ken Howard as presenters at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced. Source: movies.broadwayworld.com

Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin at 17th Annual Critics' Choice Awards, on 12th January 2012

"I am thrilled. I am proud. I am over the moon," Dujardin, speaking in French, told PEOPLE about his Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for his role as a screen star in the silent, black-and-white pastiche about Hollywood's bumpy transition from silent movies to talkies.

Still of Jean Dujardin as George Valentin in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

The honors have been raining down all year. In the spring, Dujardin, 39, was named best actor at the Cannes Film Festival for 'The Artist' – a turn of events he says that he wishes never happened.

"I was thrilled, proud, and very scared," he says. "I didn't want to go to get the prize because it's not my job and because I'm very shy. It's a little irrational, because you never think of the prizes. I haven't had many. I still don't know if I really received it, in fact." Source: www.peoplestylewatch.com

"The Artist" is the winner of three Golden Globes 2012: Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Jean Dujardin, and Best Original Score - Ludovic Bource for "The Artist".

The scene in which Jean Dujardin and Missi Pyle appear saluting their audience in the beginning of "The Artist" (2011) is very similar

to that classic rapport between Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly.

"While The Artist’s Jean Dujardin does not possess the same dancing abilities as Gene, he manages to capture that same charismatic presence. So, while the dancing eliminates him as “the next Gene Kelly,” it is the Kelly charm and smile that so many critics have identified when describing Jean. And I would have to agree. While Gene’s smile stands alone (in my opinion), Jean’s is awfully nice, too. The similarities I draw from between the two men stem from that twinkle in the eye that they use to captivate their audience". Source: genekellyfans.com

With the war over, CSU (Conference of Studio Unions) garnered support from many motion picture unions. The Screen Writers' Guild, for one, divided its support, with left-leaning liberals backing CSU and right-wing members taking a more neutral stance. But all the guilds, as unions, were required to respect picket lines. In short, if CSU decided to strike outside a particular studio, no union member would cross that line. Members of the Screen Actors' Guild had a more difficult time choosing sides. Still, the strikers' determination led many actors to remain at home for the duration of the negotiations. At the time of the strike John Garfield wasn't even on the Warner lot.

John Garfield and Lana Turner in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

Garfield was in Culver City shooting 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'. But he responded to the strike action by joining the Citizens Committee for the Motion Picture Strikers, another innocuous sounding organization that supposedly had ties to the Communist Party, and drafted a petition (protesting the violence) which was sent via telegram to the Glendale chief of police, to various civic and political leaders in the Hollywood community, and to the Warner Brothers.

John Garfield was a member of the Screen Actors Guild executive board and he attempted to convince the Guild to mediate the strike. Ultimately, in 1947 the Screen Actors Guild recommended settlement through arbitration. However, by that time, most of the Hollywood guilds were against CSU and even Garfield voted against them, although as late as February 1947, he was showing sympathy for the CSU strikers. That month he participated in a benefit held at the Philharmonic Auditorium for strikers and their families.

It was staged with the help of him, Gene Kelly, Eve Arden, Harpo Marx, Keenan Wynn and others, all of whom performed in comedic and musical skits interspersed with dramatic sequences highlighting the dilemma the striking workers faced. Some of the things he petitioned for were worthy: he joined Gene Kelly and Gregory Peck in signing a petition for the American Crusade to Stop Lynching.

Among the members of The Committee for the First Amendment were John Huston, screenwriter Phillip Dunne, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Danny Kaye, Gene Kelly, Sterling Hayden, Marsha Hunt and John Garfield.

Gene Kelly said: "We formed The Committee for the First Amendment because we thought the people in Washington had gone too far. Everyone was being branded. If they couldn't brand you a Communist then you were called 'pink'. We formed the Committee not to protect Communism, but to support the right to free speech. There was a cloud of uncertainty hanging over this town which tarred a lot of us. People were afraid. They were losing their jobs. They had wives and kids to support. They just caved in. Even the movie moguls, who knew the blacklist was wrong, gave in."

John Garfield and his wife Robbe (1946) were among the usual guests at Gene Kelly & Betsy's parties.

Gene Kelly was married three times during his life. His first wife was Betsy Blair (December 11, 1923 – March 13, 2009). She was an aspiring actress/dancer from New Jersey who met Gene in 1940 when she was a day early for a night club audition. He was the choreographer for the show, and she was hired. They began dating, and were married in September of 1941. She was 17.

While married to Gene, Betsy was involved with various political groups, and would eventually be investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Her most famous role was in the film Marty (1955) for which she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination and won a BAFTA award as Best Foreign Actress. Shortly after these acclamations, however, she and Gene began living separate lives, and the couple divorced in 1957.

Gene Kelly with his first wife Betsy Blair and daughter Kerry

-"I can’t imagine an adult man not wanting marriage. Freedom is lonely... it’s sheer boredom. A little variety can’t possibly compensate for the joys of solidity, of having someone close by your side, of having children. For the joy of having a child, I’d eliminate a lot of freedom. And for a wife. A woman clips your wings a bit, but she’s worth it". –Gene Kelly, TV Radio Mirror (November 1962)

“I never wanted to be a dancer. It’s true! I wanted to be a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I got started dancing because I knew it was one way to meet girls.” -Gene Kelly

Gene Kelly was nominated in 1946 for Best Actor Oscar for "Anchors Aweigh" (1945) directed by George Sidney

Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly in "Cover Girl" (1944) directed by Charles Vidor

“I shan’t soon forget the first time I saw him, in 'Cover Girl'. When Gene did his Alter Ego number I realized that I was watching an artist. I grabbed my wife’s hand. ‘Look!’ I said. ‘Look at that!’ She maintained a loyal silence.” -Fred Astaire

“You know, somewhere in the world is the right girl for every boy. I guess I found the one for me before I even met you. I tried, but I can’t forget her.” —Gene Kelly, 'On The Town' (1949)

“Gene was one of a kind. He revolutionized dancing on film… he was a disciplinarian and a perfectionist, and I should know…” -Frank Sinatra

Classic Ladies & Noir Atmosphere

2012-01-13T19:21:00.000-08:00

Gloria Grahame (Queen of noir atmospheres)

Classic Ladies & Noir Atmosphere video featuring stills of Golden Hollywood actresses, actors and 1940's noir aesthetic: Audrey Totter, Alice Faye, Dana Andrews, John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Robert Ryan, Ida Lupino, Hazel Brooks, Lana Turner, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Humphrey Bogart, Virginia Bruce, Dick Powell, Ann Shirley, Jan Sterling, Henry Fonda, Barbara Bel-Geddes, Veronica Lake, Patricia Neal, Carole Landis, Ann Sothern, Donna Drake, Ann Savage, Anne Francis, Florence Marly, Joan Bennett, Virginia Mayo, Linda Darnell, Betty Grable, June Duprez, Hazel Court, Alida Valli, Paulette Godard, Carole Lombard, Gene Tierney, Marsha Hunt, Louise Carletti, Marlon Brando, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Gary Cooper, Anna Sten, Leslie Howard, Lilli Palmer, Burt Lancaster, Ruth Warrick, George Raft, Rosalind Russell, Joan Leslie, Joan Crawford, Ella Raines, Jeanne Cagney, Cornel Wilde, Ann Blyth, Larwence Tierney, Anne Jeffreys, Sterling Hayden, Jean Hagen, Nancy Coleman, Dolores Moran, Marie Windsor, Mary Pickford, Kim Novak, Lauren Bacall, Claire Trevor, Kirk Douglas, Hedy Lamarr, Ava Gardner, Lizabeth Scott, Lenore Aubert, Vivien Leigh, Betty Lou Gerson, Sylvia Sidney, Sally Blane, Lee Patrick, Joy Barlow, Ann Dvorak, Dorothy Malone, Martha Vickers, Barbara Nichols, Toby Wing, Loretta Young, Una Merkel, Gloria Stuart, Mayo Methot, Joan Blondell, Priscilla Lane, Ingrid Bergman, Greer Garson, Anne Baxter, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Susan Hayward, Fay Wray, Mary Beth Hughes, Barbara Bates, Janis Carter, Charlton Heston, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Harlow, Jane Greer, Gloria Grahame, Gloria Dickson, Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne, Anita Page, Joi Lansing, Maureen O'Hara, Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, Alan Ladd, Marion Davis, Corinne Calvet, Jean Seberg, Jean Arthur, Steve Cochran, Mamie van Doren, Joanne Woodward, Barbara Laage, Lew Ayres, Mae Clarke, Ray Milland, Sheila Bromley, Marlene Dietrich, Lynn Bari, Maria Montez, Norma Shearer, Olivia de Havilland, Simone Simon, Corine Griffith, Laraine Day, Constance Bennett, etc.

Soundtrack: "'Cause Cheap is How I Feel" by Cowboy Junkies, and Glenn Miller Orchestra: "I'm Old Fashioned", "Boogie Woogie" and "Sunrise Serenade"

Jake Gyllenhaal rejected by Minka Kelly

2012-01-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal hops into his Audi SUV after stopping by the doctor’s office on Thursday (January 12) in Los Angeles.

Minka Kelly was chosen by Esquire magazine as the Sexiest Woman Alive 2010

The 31-year-old actor reportedly asked Minka Kelly out on a date last fall but she declined.

Why, you ask? At the time, Minka was trying to patch things up with her on-and-off boyfriend, New York Yankees slugger Derek Jeter. Source: justjared.buzznet.com

"The Artist", "Humoresque", "The Big Knife", "Sunset Boulevard", "Singing in the Rain"

2012-01-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

"The Artist"´plot borrows not just from "A Star Is Born" but also "Singin' in the Rain" and several other Hollywood classics.

"The Artist" is a delightful and unique experience because it cares about things most movies no longer do. "The Artist" is a terrific showcase for Dujardin not only because the lack of dialogue gives his expressive face a workout but also because the film goes out with an exhilarating 1930s-appropriate finale" Source: www.twincities.com

John Garfield and Joan Crawford in "Humoresque" (1946) directed by Jean Negulesco

"Humoresque" is a remake of the 1920 film of the same name. The original title of this 1946 version was, "Rhapsody In Blue."

In the suds-drenched ''Humoresque'' whose walk-into-the-sea ending wrings a twist on ''A Star Is Born'', John Garfield is a self-absorbed genius violinist involved with Joan Crawford, playing an unhappily married alcoholic society woman. The lather reaches a mountainous peak in the scene where Crawford's Minnie Mouse eyes brim with tears as she listens to a radio performance of Wagner's ''Liebestod'' alone in her lavish beach house, and drinks herself into a suicidal mood. Source: www.nytimes.com

Janet Gaynor and Fredric March in "A Star is Born" (1937) directed by William A. Wellman

Judy Garland and James Mason in "A Star Is Born" (1954) directed by George Cukor

Jack Palance and Ida Lupino in "The Big Knife" (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich

"Hollywood, the mythical land of dreams. Though it's often glamorized on the screen, occasionally an industry insider dares to bite the hand that feeds him by showing us the flip side of fame and fortune in tinseltown; 'What Price Hollywood?' (1932), both versions of 'A Star is Born' (1937 & 1954), 'The Bad and the Beautiful' (1952) and 'The Player' (1992) are just a few examples. Yet, none of these films can match the negative depiction of the movie business and its power brokers offered in 'The Big Knife' (1955), directed by Robert Aldrich and based on Clifford Odets' 1949 Broadway play.

On the Broadway stage, John Garfield played Charlie Castle, which was ironic considering that Odets modeled his protagonist on Garfield. For the film version, Aldrich wanted Burt Lancaster for the lead role but when he declined the offer, the part went to Jack Palance.

Jack Palance and Shelley Winters in "The Big Knife" (1955)

Shelley Winters: "The Big Knife was my personal salute to the angry and gifted, great, sad and sweet John Garfield. It was also my personal tribute to my many friends who had been so brave, facing that truly un-American HUAC Committee."

It was actually the casting of Palance, however, that Aldrich identified as the major flaw. Most viewers refused to accept him as "a guy who could or could not decide to take $5,000 per week. We failed to communicate to the mass audience... that it was not primarily a monetary problem; it was a problem of internal integrity." Source: www.tcm.com

William Holden and Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) directed by Billy Wilder

In 1949 Hollywood, down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) tries to hustle up some work at Paramount Studios. He meets with a producer who shoots down his proposed script as well as a request for a loan to bring his car payments up to date.

“Fame was thrilling only until it became grueling. Money was fun only until you ran out of things to buy.” —Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard

“You see, this is my life. It always will be. There’s nothing else. Just us and the cameras. And those wonderful people out there in the dark.” -Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond

Who better to play a once glamorous and popular silent screen actress than a real former silent screen actress than Gloria Swanson? Gloria Swanson was hugely popular in the 1920s staring in many silent films. Her life was splashed all over magazines with millions of adoring fans. By the time sound came her career ground to a slow halt. She made some sound movies in the 1930s such as 'Tonight or Never' but she accepted the end of her major career. Apparently Norma Shearer, Mae West, Mary Pickford, Pola Negri, and Greta Garbo were considered and asked to play the part of Norma Desmond.

Gloria Swanson is so perfectly eccentric and wonderful that to imagine someone like Norma Shearer (who would have been awful) or Mae West would not have made as much of an impact. Gloria Swanson just had what it took to play an old star who was stuck in the past.

There is no movie musical more fun than "Singin' in the Rain,'' and few that remain as fresh over the years. Its originality is all the more startling if you reflect that only one of its songs was written new for the film, that the producers plundered MGM's storage vaults for sets and props, and that the movie was originally ranked below "An American in Paris", which won a best picture Oscar.

The verdict of the years knows better than Oscar: "Singin' in the Rain" is a transcendent experience, and no one who loves movies can afford to miss it. One of this movie's pleasures is that it's really about something. Of course it's about romance, as most musicals are, but it's also about the film industry in a period of dangerous transition. The movie simplifies the changeover from silents to talkies, but doesn't falsify it. Yes, cameras were housed in soundproof booths, and microphones were hidden almost in plain view. Source: rogerebert.suntimes.com

"And there’s that fade-out kiss between 40-year-old Kelly and 19-year-old newcomer Debbie Reynolds beneath a movie billboard. The kiss that many moviegoers saw but few know about. The one that Kelly put extra effort into.

The French kiss was such a shocker to Reynolds that she had to leave the set to gain her composure. “Filming was held up for about an hour while I drank Coca-Cola and gargled,” Reynolds says. She was eventually persuaded to return and reshoot the scene. This time around, an embarrassed Kelly promised that it would be a “simple kiss.” “I don’t know why he wasn’t aware that I had never had a French kiss. I was such a young girl. I was really upset". Source: articles.orlandosentinel.com

"Debbie Reynolds was 17 when she made 'Singing in the Rain'. In many ways, she says, she was surprised as much as anyone by her own stardom.

She was smaller and lacking in sex appeal compared with the Lana Turners and the Lauren Bacalls, the icons of the era who became her close friends. She had never danced before 'Singing in the Rain', and she had never kissed, either.

“I was taking ballet and acting,” she recalled. “I had no interest in boys, and I certainly didn’t want to be taking a class in kissing.” She says that if you take a look at the last scene of the film, you’ll see a mightily annoyed Gene Kelly giving her the tiniest of unromantic, closed-mouth smooches at what should have been the happy triumph of a couple over all manner of Hollywood adversity". Source: businessghost.com

Jake Gyllenhaal spotted by Twitterers slurping at the farmers' market

2012-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

"A bearded Jake Gyllenhaal, hiding behind some sunglasses, was spotted by various Twitterers Saturday slurping up a bowl of miso ramen from Hapa Ramen at the Ferry Plaza farmers' market. No word on whether he was in town at Alice's behest, or what". [Twitter via Tablehopper] Source: sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com

"Sean Murphy has been promoted to director of development at John Lesher's Le Grisbi Prods. Murphy, who came to Le Grisbi in 2010 after working as an assistant at UTA, will develop movies as well as service the company's first-look deal for original series at HBO.

Le Grisbi is in post-production on David Ayer's "End of Watch," starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena, Anna Kendrick, and America Ferrera. Lesher has set up two projects at Warner Bros.: "Cicero," with David Yates attached to direct and Tom Hardy to star; and "Satori," written by Shane Salerno and Don Winslow for Leonardo DiCaprio to star. He's also producing Guillaume Canet's "Blood Ties." Source: www.variety.com

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan, co-stars in "Source Code"

"When Nicole Kidman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Clive Owen, and Natalie Portman take the stage for the Hollywood Foreign Press' Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 15, many eyes will be on what they are wearing, and most will look out for the crazy moments that make awards shows a highlight of the winter months — and the perfect excuse to throw a party. If you haven't already, send out e-invitations that look like e-tickets — "Admit One: 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Then roll out the red carpet down your front hall. As it's sure to be a star-studded night, lots of gold, silver, and sparkles will ensure that the environment matches those in attendance". Source: www.thedailymeal.com

Jake Gyllenhaal and Selma Blair at Movieline Young Hollywood Awards on 5th May, 2002 in Hollywood, CA

Anne Shirley and John Garfield in "Saturday's Children" (1940) by Vincent Sherman

2012-01-09T23:04:00.000-08:00

Anne Shirley and John Garfield in "Saturday's Children" (1940) directed by Vincent Sherman, screenplay by Julius J. & Philip G. Epstein.

"Saturday's Children", Warner's latest remake of the Pulitzer Prize winning author Maxwell Anderson's play of the '20s, still is good as human drama with comedy sidelights. Basic plot varies from Anderson's play, but still retains essential ingredients of youthful romance and young couple's tour through financial straits and marital difficulties which sends them to the verge of separation.

John Garfield delivers impressively as Rims Rosson. Anne Shirley is excellent as Bobby Halevy, the romantic girl and wife. This is the role, originally assigned to Jane Bryant, who reneged and retired when married, which was responsible for contract suspension of Olivia de Havilland by Warners on refusal to assume it, and resulted in an undisclosed newcomer being replaced by Shirley after an unsatisfactory two reels were shot. Claude Rains is strong in the support as girl's plodding and sympathetically understanding father.

Story tells romance of Garfield and Shirley, with latter forcing the marriage proposal on eve of his departure for a big opportunity in the Philippines. Script by the Epstein brothers develops story at a fast pace. -Extract of a review from 1940. Source: stage.variety.com

Great clip of Anne Shirley and John Garfield as young lovers in the movie "Saturday's Children".

Jake Gyllenhaal will present the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards

2012-01-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

The countdown is on to the first huge awards show of the season -- only 6 days until the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards!

Hottie Jake Gyllenhaal will take the stage to hand out a trophy, as will last year’s Best Actress in a Drama winner Natalie Portman (though much less pregnant than the last time she hit the Beverly Hilton stage). Also making an appearance is one of our biggest Globe nominee snubs of the year -- the hilarious Melissa McCarthy will be on hand to dole out an award.

You can also expect a big international presence in the presenter pool, with Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Clive Owen and “Immortals” stunner Freida Pinto all slated to dish out trophies.

The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards air Sunday on NBC. Source: www.toofab.com

New (old) outtakes with Jake Gyllenhaal in Rolling Stone (Italy) magazine, February 2006

EXCLUSIVE: Not long after leaving his longtime manager, actor Jake Gyllenhaal has left his longtime agency. He grew up, so to speak, at CAA as one of Kim Hodgert’s first clients. I’m assured his departure is not because of anything she has done. “He needed to make a change after 15 years. He has enormous respect for CAA.” He will now be repped by WME’s Patrick Whitesell. Source: www.deadline.com

Kim Novak vs 'The Artist', Film Industry & Technology Progress, Optimization

2012-01-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Still of Bérénice Bejo and Jean Dujardin in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

"Kim Novak has gone public, with a press release and a trade ad, to express her ire over The Artist‘s use of Bernard Hermann’s music from 'Vertigo' as backdrop for the silent film. I just spoke with Novak’s longtime manager Sue Cameron, and she told me that the actress is an Oscar voter.

“She was sitting in her living room, she put the DVD in, and then went into an absolute state of shock and devastation,” Cameron said. “When you sit in a theater and familiar music comes on that engenders ready made emotion from a past film, and they use that music to evoke those same emotions, it’s quite hurtful. We know that they had the legal right to use the music, but it’s the music that was the backdrop for classic scenes, like Kim and Jimmy Stewart kissing by the tree, driving along the coast in the car. She is very, very upset.”

Kim Novak in "Vertigo" (1958) directed by Alfred Hitchcock

One looming question is whether Novak has jeopardized her status as a voter, and violated the rules by publicly maligning a movie that is a frontrunner for Best Picture. I will provide updates as I get some clarity, and reaction from The Weinstein Company, which released The Artist. Here is Novak’s reaction, in her own words: “I want to report a rape,” said Kim Novak, the legendary star of “Vertigo,” “Picnic,” and many other revered classics. “My body of work has been violated by ‘The Artist.’

This film took the Love Theme music from “Vertigo” and used the emotions it engenders as its own. Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart can’t speak for themselves, but I can. It was our work that unconsciously or consciously evoked the memories and feelings to the audience that were used for the climax of ‘The Artist.’”

Novak went on to say that “The Artist” could and should have been able to stand on its own. “There was no reason for them to depend on Bernard Herrmann’s score from ‘Vertigo’ to provide more drama. ‘Vertigo’s’ music was written during the filming.

Hitchcock wanted the theme woven musically in the puzzle pieces of the storyline. Even though they did given Bernard Herrmann a small credit at the end, I believe this kind of filmmaking trick to be cheating. Shame on them!” Source: www.deadline.com

The Movie Industry and Technology Progress:

The music and movie business has been consistently wrong in its claims that new platforms and channels would be the end of its businesses. In each case, the new technology produced a new market far larger than the impact it had on the existing market.

1920’s – the record business complained about radio. The argument was because radio is free, you can’t compete with free. No one was ever going to buy music again.

1940’s – movie studios had to divest their distribution channel – they owned over 50% of the movie theaters in the U.S. “It’s all over,” complained the studios. In fact, the number of screens went from 17,000 in 1948 to 38,000 today.

1950’s – broadcast television was free; the threat was cable television. Studios argued that their free TV content couldn’t compete with paid.

1970’s – Video Cassette Recorders (VCR’s) were going to be the end of the movie business. The movie businesses and its lobbying arm MPAA fought it with “end of the world” hyperbole. The reality? After the VCR was introduced, studio revenues took off like a rocket. With a new channel of distribution, home movie rentals surpassed movie theater tickets.

1998 – the MPAA got congress to pass the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), making it illegal for you to make a digital copy of a DVD that you actually purchased.

2000 – Digital Video Recorders (DVR) like TiVo allowing consumer to skip commercials was going to be the end of the TV business. DVR’s reignite interest in TV.

2006 - broadcasters sued Cablevision (and lost) to prevent the launch of a cloud-based DVR to its customers.

Today it’s the Internet that’s going to put the studios out of business. Sound familiar? Source: steveblank.com

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Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a web page in search engines via "algorithmic" search results. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive. With the growth in popularity of social media sites and blogs the leading engines made changes to their algorithms to allow fresh content to rank quickly within the search results.

Flowing Gold scenes starring John Garfield & Frances Farmer

2012-01-08T13:13:00.000-08:00

Flowing Gold (1940) scenes starring John Garfield & Frances Farmer

John Garfield: liberal causes, happiness inside

2012-01-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

"I am a fugitive. I am hunted by ruthless men! I am shunned by decent women! I am doomed to hide forever!" -Tagline of "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939) directed by Busby Berkeley

Having completed his two first films for Warner Bros., John Garfield returned to New York early in September. He wasn't yet a household name, but journalist Frederick James Smith was interested in interviewing him. Time magazine, in its review of 'They Made Me a Criminal', described Garfield as "outspoken... and an amateur left wing politician."

John Garfield as Johnnie Bradfield, aka Jack Dorney in "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939)

"I'm scared of the way they build you up in Hollywood, force you, hothouse you", Garfield told Smith. "It's too easy to go soft and lose your identity. I want my happiness inside. There [in Hollywood] everyone seems to be a success with plenty of money to spend. Here [New York] actors are constantly struggling. I think that is necessary, for when an actor doesn't face a conflict he loses confidence in himself. I always want to struggle, because I believe it will help me accomplish more."

Garfield just didn't think he was that good. And then 'Four Daughters' was released. The success of the film may be difficult to understand today. It's an old-fashioned homage to middle America, but in its time it was a blockbuster, for audiences hoping to escape the sound of war in Europe were easily seduced by the story line, which reaffirmed faith in the family unit.

Priscilla Lane and John Garfield as the doomed couple in "Four Daughters" (1938) directed by Michael Curtiz

It's unlikely that the film would have been anything other than a mild success had it not been for John Garfield's participation. Ring Lardner Jr., then a fledgling screenwriter with Warner Bros., recalled the impact of Garfield's screen debut as Mickey Borden: "I already knew him from the making of the picture, but I remember when I first saw the film, that I was absolutely startled by the effect of that character coming on the screen and taking over. I didn't realize he had that power, that magnetism."

John Garfield and Rosemary Lane in "Blackwell's Island" (1939) directed by William C. McGann

Jack Warner assured that from now on, John Garfield would receive nothing less than star billing in A productions. But there was still a B film, 'Blackwell´s Island', waiting to be released. Warner Bros. quickly turned it into an A, or at least a B+, invested another $10,000 and hired Michael Curtiz to reshoot some scenes. What effect Curtiz had on the finished product is impossible to judge, but the film is a reasonably exciting crime drama, and Garfield appears to be having a ball. The critics were kind and the public was satisfied.

The commercial success of this minor film affirmed Warner's hunch that John Garfield was star material.

John Garfield as in WB "Castle on the Hudson" (1940) directed by Anatole Litvak

"Hollywood was a liberal community then", screenwriter Paul Jarrico explained. "The writers, the directors, and to a lesser degree the actors were largely left of center." Hollywood wanted to present itself as a community that cared, and for Garfield, who had worked his way up quickly from uneducated street waif to equally uneducated movie star, it was important to maintain a connection to his roots. He appeared sincere in his efforts to help those less fortunate than himself. Actress Betsy Blair (then the wife of Gene Kelly) recalled Garfield as always being one to financially support liberal causes.

Danny Kaye, Groucho Marx and John Garfield

Hilda Wane had been Danny Kaye's secretary, and the Garfields hired her on as a combination secretary/nurse.
"Before HUAC reopened shop in the second round of hearings in 1951, they sent a representative to Hollywood," Julie [John Garfield's daughter] explained: "This representative met with all the heads of the film studios, and he said, 'We're going after Danny Kaye, Edward G. Robinson and John Garfield. Give us just one of them and we'll leave you alone.' And the studio heads said, "Take Garfield. He's expendable."

Danny Kaye and John Garfield signing autographs for the troops at the Hollywood Canteen

Whether the studio heads actually needed to acquiesce in order for the government to build a case against Garfield is debatable. Still, HUAC never netted as big a prize as Garfield, in terms of witnesses. He was without doubt the only major movie star of the period to be blacklisted. -"He Ran All The Way: The Life of John Garfield" by Robert Nott

John Garfield and Lana Turner as Frank and Cora in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

"A big one raised us up, and she put her hand to her breasts, to show how it lifted them. Cora: "I love it. Are they big, Frank?" Frank: "I'll tell you tonight." Cora: "They feel big. I didn't tell you about that. It's not only knowing you're going to make another life. It's what it does to you. My breasts feel so big, and I want you to kiss them. Pretty soon my belly is going to get big, and I'll love that, and want everybody to see it. It's life".

I was all ready to start out with her again clean, and do like she said, have a new life. When I came up she was coughing. -"Just one of those sick spells, like you have." -"Did you swallow any water?" -"No." We went a little way, and then she stopped. -"Frank, I feel funny inside."

-"Here, hold on to me." -"Oh, Frank. Maybe I strained myself, just then. Trying to keep my head up. So I wouldn't gulp down the salt water." -"Take it easy." -"Wouldn't that be awful? I've heard of women that had a miscarriage. From straining theirself." -"Don't try to swim. I'll tow you in." I could have towed her a mile, but I kept thinking I had to get her to a hospital, and I hurried. When you hurry in the water you're sunk. I got bottom, though, after a while, and then I took her in my arms and rushed her through the surf. My legs were so tired I could hardly lift one after the other, but I didn't drop her. I put her in the car, started up, and began burning the road. [...] Horns were blowing, and people were jumping out of cars and running to her. I got her up, and tried to stop the blood and in between I was talking to her, and crying, and kissing her. Those kisses never reached her. She was dead". -"The Postman Always Rings Twice" novel by James M. Cain

John Garfield with Frances Farmer, Lana Turner, Jennifer Jones, Shelley Winters

2012-01-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

John Garfield as John Alexander - aka Johnny Blake - in drama "Flowing Gold" (1940) directed by Alfred E. Green

Frances Farmer & John Garfield in "Flowing Gold" (1940)

John Garfield pulled strings to get Frances Farmer cast as his leading lady in "Flowing Gold" (1940). Both actors would eventually be destroyed by Hollywood's ignorance.

Promotional still of John Garfield in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

John Garfield and Lana Turner in Laguna Beach, filming "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946)

Cecil Kellaway, John Garfield and Lana Turner in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946)

"I could never belong to only one man -- I belong to all men," says Lana Turner in 'The Prodigal'.

Lana never lets you (or herself) forget that she is the ultimate sex goddess -- but in 'Postman', at least, she rarely forgets that she's playing a character and not herself. It is perhaps her finest work -- from a body of work that includes very few truly stellar performances.

'Postman', which predates all that, is a stunner -- a cruel and desperate and gritty James Cain vehicle that sorely tests Lana's skills.

But she succeeds marvelously, and from the first glimpse of her standing in the doorway in her white fuck-me pumps, as the camera travels up her tanned legs, she becomes a character so enticingly beautiful and insidiously evil that the audience is riveted. It is a noir tale of lust, betrayal, and murder that, along with 'Mildred Pierce' and 'Double Indemnity', remains one of the few truly important women's roles in film noir.

Turner wears white, head-to-toe, throughout the film -- hot, stark, tawdry white -- and is anything but virginal. But it is a nice counterpoint to the double-crossing and noir feel. Cora is a dame who wants out, but killing her husband (Kellaway) was never really part of her plan. Then along comes Frank (Garfield), a drifter with itchy feet who beats Cora at her own game of seduction and manipulation. 'Postman' is a stunning achievement that will live forever. Source: www.austinchronicle.com

Now that their relationship is poisoned with distrust and they are turned against each other, Cora wants to be rid of Frank: "Well, goodbye, Mr. Yellow. I don't know what you're going to do and I don't care. But I'm going in and open up my lunchroom." Cora wants to be respectable and well off, rather than on the road and wandering away with Frank. He is permitted to stay, although the two lovers are very divided:

Frank: Cora, Cora, look. Maybe, maybe you could sell the place and we can go away somewhere and start fresh, where nobody knows us.

Cora: Oh, no! You've been trying to make a tramp out of me ever since you've known me. But you're not going to do it. I stay here.
Frank: All right. I'm gonna stay too.
Cora: Well, let me tell you something. If you do stay, there's gonna be a lot of hard work done around here because I've got ideas for this place.

John Garfield posing on the set of 'Force of Evil' (directed by Abraham Polonsky), on 11th June, 1948 in New York City.

John Garfield and Jennifer Jones in "We Were Strangers" (1949) directed by John Huston

Jennifer Jones declared: "It's such a pleasure to play with John Garfield. He is a powerful actor and one feels his security in a scene".

Jennifer Jones played Emma Bovary in "Madame Bovary" (1949) directed by Vincente Minnelli. The film was a project of the MGM studios and Lana Turner was set to star, but when pregnancy and the Breen office forced her to withdraw, Jennifer Jones stepped into the title role. The story of the adulterous wife who destroys the lives of many presented censorship issues with the Production Code. A plot device which structured the story around author Gustave Flaubert's obscenity trial was developed to placate the censors.

Jennifer Jones joins the rebels for revenge but falls for the terse passion of the mastermind (John Garfield), her house becomes the group's hideout as they dig a tunnel under the Havana Cemetery and towards the dictator. Dynamite is concealed in conga drums, Gilbert Roland ("something of a poet") grabs a pickaxe and delivers the first blow on a rocky side, "this is for the President" .

Huston's overt sympathy for sedition might be a jibe at the McCarthyism just around the corner, and his filmmaking is up to the task -- the stark claustrophobia of the compositions (a bedrock for Le Trou, The Great Escape, Kanal) is continuously goosed by an urgent surrealism out of Buñuel's Mexican period, as in the moment when the heroine, roused by nightmares, descends into the tunnel as if into a tomb and is startled by Garfield's face covered in red dust. Jones with a machine-gun in hand anticipates Mao's ode to female warriors ("Spirited and attractive, with a five feet rifle...") Source: www.cinepassion.org

John Garfield and Shelley Winters during the filming of a bedroom scene on the set of 'He Ran All the Way' (January 1951) directed by John Berry.

"He Ran All The Way" (1951) directed by John Berry - Ending Scene: When Nick (John Garfield) discovers that he killed the cop, he decides to use Peggy's apartment as hideout to wait the police manhunt cool down, forcing the family to lodge him. When Nick finds that Peggy (Shelley Winters) loves him, he invites her to leave the town with him and asks her to buy a used runaway car. However, the paranoid Nick cannot trust anybody and believes Peggy has betrayed him.

‎"Must I tell the story of my life again?" -John Garfield

Jake Gyllenhaal shows off his beard while out for sushi lunch in Hollywood

2012-01-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal out for lunch with friends in Hollywood, on 4th January 2012

Jake Gyllenhaal showing off his 'Lumberjack Look' while lunching with friends in Hollywood. Gyllenhaal is beard-ly recognizable with his new scruffy look. The actor was spotted in grabbing sushi with some friends.

Happy New Year 2012!

2012-01-04T22:20:00.000-08:00

New additions of Jake Gyllenhaal attending 'Love & Other Drugs' Press Conference in New York City

Jake Gyllenhaal out for coffee with Friends in Venice, CA on 1st January 2012

What Are You Doing New Years Eve? by Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt

2011-12-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

"She & Him" with M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel

Still of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "50/50" directed by Jonathan Levine

I have known Joe Gordon-Levitt for going on 12 years. We first met in the summer of 2000 while doing a tiny movie called Manic, where we bonded over a mutual appreciation for Harry Nilsson and Nina Simone and I have been lucky enough to call him one of my dearest friends ever since. When we did 500 Days of Summer 8 years later, we spent every lunch hour dancing to Marvin Gaye in the hair and make up trailer; we had loads of fun. I hope to do a thousand more movies with him because he's simply the best. But in the meantime, we made a little New Year's duet for all of you! The original by Nancy Wilson. ENJOY!

Marilyn Monroe's Daily Diet, Weight loss plan

2011-12-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

"At twelve I looked like a girl of seventeen. My body was developed and shapely. But no one knew this but me. I still wore the blue dress and the blouse the orphanage provided. They made me look like an overgrown lummox". -Marilyn Monroe

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in My Week with Marilyn (2011) by Simon Curtis

"I could play her for the rest of my life" -Michelle Williams about playing Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe eating a dessert

“Fragments” dates the recipe to 1955 or 1956, when Marilyn lived in an apartment at 2 Sutton Place. We conjured up images of her prowling the aisles at D’Agostino’s on First Avenue in a crepe dress and heels (this is the era of “The Seven Year Itch”), and followed along as she purchased a loaf of bread, the ground round and all those jars of dried herbs. Our only true departure — to blend sage, marjoram, ground ginger and nutmeg in place of the commercial poultry seasoning she used — was informed by what typically goes into such products.

Marilyn Monroe’s Daily Diet: The revelation of an elaborate stuffing recipe in the icon's own hand has led to speculation that perhaps Marilyn was, in fact, a domestic goddess.

From a late shopping list, we know her diet was wholesome and that she cooked for herself — if simply. Clearly, she liked to eat proper meals. Even her weight-loss plan was not insubstantial. All we can know for certain is that 1950s dieters ate well: and the sight of that menu today would send any contemporary Hollywood star to sprint from the room shrieking in horror. Source: www.nytimes.com

Joan Crawford eating a dessert

Marilyn Monroe recorded her private thoughts and gave the tape to her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson in 1962. A one-night stand with diva Joan Crawford led to ruffled feathers: "Next time I saw Crawford, she wanted another round. I told her straight out I didn't much enjoy doing it with a woman. After I turned her down, she became spiteful." Source: www.people.com

When cowboy Beau and his friend Virgil take the bus from Montana to Phoenix, Arizona, to participate in the rodeo, Beau is also hoping to find his "angel." There, Beau falls in love with cafe singer "hillbilly" Chérie (Marily Monroe) performing "That Old Black Magic" and plans to take her back to Montana. The next day, he intends to marry her after the rodeo, but she escapes. She wants to go Hollywood, where she hopes to be discovered. But Beau tracks her down, and forces her on the bus back to Montana. On the way, they stop at Grace's Diner.

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John Garfield in "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Castle on the Hudson", "Out of the Fog" and "Body & Soul"

2011-12-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

John Garfield and Lana Turner as Frank and Cora in a promotional still of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946)

In his retrospective narration, Frank remembers how fatal his decision to stay became. Cora, the quintessential femme fatale, sneaks into Frank's room later in the evening to talk about their future on her own terms. The lovers plan to murder the woman's unloved husband - and it is the unfaithful wife Cora who plants the idea of murder into Frank's head so that they can be together. The ambitious, yet soul-less seductress argues that with her husband dead, she would inherit the financial security of the restaurant:

Cora: Frank, do you love me?
Frank: Yes.
Cora: Do you love me so much that nothing else matters?
Frank: Yes.

Cora and Nick enjoy an idyllic week together. They frolic at night in the surreal surf and enjoy romantic trysting with the breathing room given them by Nick's absence:

"It was the happiest I'd ever spent in my life. I wouldn't let myself think. And Cora wouldn't even discuss what was going to happen when Nick came home. All I cared about was her being happy. And as for me, I felt as if I was riding on a cloud". However, when Nick is being driven home, Frank has only one option. He hurriedly packs and leaves and becomes a vagabond once more: "After a couple of weeks in L.A., I-I sunk low enough to hang around the wholesale market where they bought a lot of their stuff, hoping I, I'd run into her. I just couldn't get her out of my mind".

Obsessed and drawn back by the memory of angel-faced Cora, Frank locates Nick's car at the Los Angeles market, and with only a half-hearted protest, he is convinced to return with Nick to Twin Oaks. In the cafe, Cora is stunned to see Frank re-appear: "Frank: Have you been thinkin' about me, Cora?" -Cora: "I couldn't forget ya that quick".

"For the first time in his life he has done the decent thing... protecting the Warden’s reputation and saving Kay from a jail term. This is clearly of comfort to him as he is led to the chair. The sub-text is that none of this would have been possible without the inspiration and influence of Warden Long, whose ethical approach was no doubt modelled on the man who wrote the screenplay, Lewis E Lawes, Warden of Sing Sing.

Is it any better than the original? Marginally. It’s fast paced (just 76 minutes) and Garfield’s brashness and quick-fire gangsterisms perhaps top Spencer Tracy’s, and Sheridan’s Kay is more believable than Bette Davis the first time around". Source: www.prisonmovies.net

"Garfield was on voluntary suspension from Warner Bros. because of dissatisfaction with roles the studio was offering him (usually criminals or prison inmates) when he was sent the script for "Castle on the Hudson". His reported response when offered one more prison saga was, "Parole me!" It was director-screenwriter-producer Robert Rossen, a friend of Garfield's, who persuaded him to take on Spencer Tracy's old role. Garfield agreed to do the film provided the studio would not change the original ending, which had Tommy going to the electric chair to cover for the girlfriend, who had shot and killed a treacherous lawyer. When the film opened, The New York Times began its review by joking, "This is merely a routine notice that Mr. John Garfield, formerly of the Group Theatre, who was recently sentenced to a term in Warner Bros. Pictures, is still in prison."

"Garfield had some trepidation about succeeding the highly regarded Tracy -and, indeed, some critics accused the younger actor of borrowing from both Tracy and James Cagney in his performance. When the film is viewed today, however, it's easy to see that Garfield made the role his own. In later describing his preparation for the climactic execution scene, he explained how he used his Method training to make the experience seem real: "Naturally I hadn't ever been to the chair before, so it required a little imagination to go back into my past and find the emotion I needed... When I got onstage for the first performance of Awake and Sing (his first major stage role with the Group Theatre), it felt like the electric chair... and that feeling is what I was remembering when the movie cameras were grinding." Source: www.tcm.com

In his analysis of the Cagney persona, Harvard intellectual Lincoln Kirstein wrote, "No one expresses more in terms of pictorial action, the delights of violence, the overtones of a semi-conscious sadism, the tendency towards destruction, towards anarchy, which is the basis of American sex appeal". Cagney had become a big star, but the poor Irish kid from the Lower East Side never forgot where he had come from. Taking note of this, Communist screenwriter John Bright was going to put him in with some folks who could use the star's new altruism for their benefit. The involvement with the radicals came back to haunt Cagney in 1940 when he testified before Martin Dies' then kinder, gentler convening of the HUAC in Washington. With his career at stake, Cagney disowned his former friends and claimed that as a kid growing up in a poor neighborhood, he just wanted to help those who were on the bottom. "What the hell did I know about the ebb and flow of political movements?" he cried.

Poster of "Out of The Fog" starring Ida Lupino and John Garfield (1941) directed by Anatole Litvak

Goff (John Garfield) is dazzling Stella (Ida Lupino) with his ill-gotten wealth. After introducing Stella to several ritzy clubs, he conspires to take her to Havana's more decadent hot spots -shades of Clifford Odets' aborted anti-Batista play.

To "The Boston Daily Record", John Garfield enthused: "The film has something important to say. It shows how men such as I portray are kicked around until they eventually turn against society, adopting the fascist idea of seizing what they want". The casting for the plum role of fascistic gangster Goff became intense. Though James Cagney was discussed for the role, director Anatole Litvak had favored George Raft.

Howard Barnes felt that "Out of the Fog" was "a work of genuine distinction" and said Garfield gave "what is unquestionably his greatest screen portrayal as the petty hoodlum who turns gentle people into killers." Garfield is frightening and he imbues the thug character with chilling mood swings. -"The Left Side of the Screen: Communist and Left-Wing Ideology in Hollywood, 1929-2009" by Bob Herzberg (2011)

John Garfield as Charley Davis in "Body and Soul" (1947) directed by Robert Rossen

"Garfield pushed himself to the limit for authenticity, suffering a mild heart attack while exercising in one scene and knocking himself out when he collided with a camera boom while filming a fight with former welterweight fighter Art Darrell. This last injury gave him a head wound that took six stitches to close. 'Body and Soul' opened to rave reviews and huge box office returns. Bosley Crowther in The New York Times said, "Altogether this Enterprise picture rolls up a round-by-round triumph on points until it comes through with a climactic knockout that his the all-time high in throat-catching fight films." Garfield was nominated for Best Actor by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as was Abraham Polonsky for his screenplay. Francis Lyon and Robert Parrish won the Oscar for Best Editing. Source: www.tcm.com

Nora Zehetner will play a female detective in "Common Law" tv series

2011-12-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

Nora Zehetner as Phoebe in "Mad Men" episode "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" (2010)

Mad Men actress Nora Zehetner (who appears as Phoebe in season 4) will play a rookie female detective on "Common Law", while former Lost star Sonya Walger will appear as the therapist assigned to Travis (Ealy) and Wes (Kole). Originally planned to premiere on January 26, the show will now air in mid-2012, according to Deadline. Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk

John Garfield sings in "Thank You Lucky Stars"

2011-12-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

John Garfield (presented by Dinah Shore) sings in "Thank You Lucky Stars" (1943) directed by David Butler

Homefront Collection (This Is the Army / Thank Your Lucky Stars / Hollywood Canteen): Highlights include Humphrey Bogart being out-tough-guyed by S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall and singers ranging from the gifted (Dinah Shore, Dennis Morgan) to the good sports (Errol Flynn, John Garfield). And Bette Davis' witty, wry, jitterbuggin rendition of They Either Too Young or Too Old by Arthur Schwartz and Frank Loesser is "the cherry on top" (Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical).

Hollywood Canteen (1944): At ease, soldiers, as real-life canteen co-founders Bette Davis and John Garfield plus dozens more luminaries - from Jack Benny to Barbara Stanwyck to Roy Rogers and Trigger - dazzle the troops and modern fans in “a great big scrambled vaudeville show with enough talent to have made a dozen fine movies" (Howard Barnes, New York Herald Tribune).

Maureen O'Hara, Eleanor Parker, John Garfield

2011-12-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle "Santa Claus", Natalie Wood as Susan Walker and Maureen O'Hara as Doris Walker in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) directed by George Seaton

John Garfield as Albert Schmid (tripping over a Christmas tree) and Eleanor Parker as Ruth Hartley in "Pride of the Marines" (1945) directed by Delmer Daves

Dane Clark was one of the few actors to remain friendly with Garfield through the years, as both men had much in common. Clark had grown up in Brooklyn, had boxed some, had tried unsuccessfully to get into the Group Theatre in the 1930s, and had come to Hollywood on a whim. There were stories that Warner Bros. hired Clark by in 1942 just in case Garfield gave the studio trouble.

Eleanor Parker received the first of her three Best Actress Oscar nominations playing a prisoner in "Caged" (1950), for which she won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival. She was also nominated the next year playing the cop's wife who shared a secret with the neighborhood abortionist in William Wyler's "Detective Story" (1951). Her third and last Oscar nod came for "Interrupted Melody" (1955), playing an opera singer struck down by polio.

Parker could easily have been nominated that same year for her portrayal of Frank Sinatra's faux crippled wife in Otto Preminger's brooding masterpiece "The Man with the Golden Arm" (1955) adapted from the novel by Nelson Algren.

Dane Clark said both he and Garfield fell in love with Eleanor Parker during filming "Pride of the Marines", but the love did not translate into anything more physical than flirting.

John Garfield with Loretta Young

John Garfield landed a second loan-out, this time to RKO, to film the espionage thriller "The Fallen Sparrow". He wasn't the first choice for the part, James Cagney, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott had all been offered it first.

The film's political standpoint, while ambiguous, appealed to him: Garfield plays John McKittrick, an Irish-American Loyalist who returns to New York City after fighting in the Spanish Civil War only to discover that his best friend, Louie, has been murdered. Louie, like McKittrick (or "Kit") was an American fighting the good fight against the fascists in Spain. Kit is haunted by memories of tortures in a fascist prison, and he believes that the main torturer, a limping man, is still after him.

Kit hooks up with Toni Donne (Maureen O'Hara), a dubious member of royalty who may or may not be reeling Kit right into a lair of film noir proportions - the film moves along well and remains an early example of noir with Garfield in a Philip Marlowe-type role.

John Garfield kissing Maureen O'Hara in "The Fallen Sparrow" (1943) directed by Richard Wallace

"One of the small ways in which I was able to contribute to the war effort was by promoting war bonds. Sometime between making 'This Land Is Mine' my last film with Charles Laughton, and 'The Fallen Sparrow' with John Garfield (my shortest leading man, outspoken and a real sweetheart), Fox sent me to an evening dinner engagement in Texas to sell war bonds. Errol Flyn was scheduled to speak that night, and he was seated on the dais next to me. He was very poised. Errol leaned toward me and and began whispering lewd propositions out of the corner of his mouth, it was crude and ugly stuff and not the slightest bit erotic, which I would expected from this legendary Casanova. Clearly he had to be drunk if he really thought I'd ever be part of a seedy Errol Flynn sex orgy. He was treating me like a Hollywood whore, like a little sex doll from the back streets". -'Tis Herself: An Autobiography' by Maureen O'Hara & John Nicoletti (2005)

Maureen O'Hara arriving to testify in the Confidential trial, accompanied, from left, by Deputy Dist. Atty. William Ritzi, Guy Ward (O'Hara's personal attorney), and O'Hara's brothers James FitzSimons and Charles FitzSimons.

Actress Maureen O'Hara successfully sued the "Confidential" magazine for a story in the March 1957 issue falsely accusing her of having sex in the balcony of Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theatre. As she recounted in her 2004 autobiography "Tis Herself" her passport proved that she was in Spain on the date alleged by Confidential. Her lawsuit and large settlement were instrumental in the decline of the magazine. "Everybody reads it but they say the cook brought it into the house”, said Humphrey Bogart. Groucho Marx responded to an article about him in the magazine with his famous letter -originally printed in his book 'The Groucho Letters' (1967) "If you don't stop printing scandalous articles about me, I'll be forced to cancel my subscription." Confidential magazine inspired the film "L.A. Confidential", based on James Ellroy's novel "L.A. Confidential".

"Just as Hitchcock had his fantasies about icy blondes, so John Ford dreamt of hotblooded Irish redheads. But his relationship with O'Hara was immensely complicated. He adored her, yet knew he couldn't have her. He was too old for her and understood she didn't want a romantic relationship. The more she and Ford battled with each other, the more he loved and resented her. For her part, she was often mystified by the abrupt shifts in his mood. Only gradually did she come to realise that he was obsessed with her and couldn't control his feelings. When he got drunk, he wotld write incoherent love letters to her, then accuse her a short time later of betraying him or lying about him. One day, she discovered that he had broken into her home and gone through her belongings". Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

When the studio cast Ida Lupino opposite Errol Flynn in "Escape Me Never" (1947), she was elated. She had met Flynn and his first wife Lill Damita in Palm Springs in 1936. At Warners, Ida, Flynn and Raoul Walsh formed an elite triumvirate dedicated to fun. Each had a nickname: Ida was "Little Scout"; Flynn was "The Baron"; and Walsh was "Uncle." The charismatic Flynn charmed everyone. "There was a wonderful exhilaration being around Errol. You became as bold and as wild as he was." The story was a light, rather creaky plot about an English girl in love in turnof-the-century Venice.

Errol Flynn and Eleanor Parker in "Escape Me Never" (1947) directed by Peter Godfrey

In a case of mistaken identity, brothers in love with Lupino and Eleanor Parker become confused. The Breen office was perturbed by the film's implications that Flynn's character was "an apron chaser" and pointed out that the actor "has the same reputation in life." Lupino and Flynn enjoyed making the picture; their friendship deepened into romance. Ida adored Flynn but knew he would never be content with any one woman. -"Ida Lupino: A Biography" by William Donati (2000)

Errol Flynn as Santa in "Never Say Goodbye"(1946) directed by James V. Kern: A seasonal clip from the Warner Bros rom-com starring Errol Flynn & Eleanor Parker. When Errol Flynn dons a disguise as Humphrey Bogart in one scene, it's Bogart himself who's doing the voice-over.

Happy Anniversary, Humphrey Bogart! Tough guy with a sensitive side

2011-12-25T15:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary, Humphrey Bogart (25 December 1899, New York City - 14 January 1957, Los Angeles) Birth Name: Humphrey DeForest Bogart

Bogart, the sensitive tough guy, was hounded by insecurity and a host of other personal demons, his upperclass background lending an innate dignity. “Look, I’m hardly pretty, he seems to say. I sound like gravel; I look rough and tough; and, honest, I don’t give you the soft, foolish answers the pretty boys will give you. You may not like what I say, but you better believe it.” -"Humphrey Bogart (Great Stars)" by David Thomson

A video featuring some stills of male actors who were considered as tough guys but could also show a romantic, sensitive side (especially with their female co-stars): Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, John Garfield, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Dana Andrews, Tom Neal, Alan Ladd, Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Clark Gable, Robert Ryan, Spencer Tracy, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Richard Widmark, etc. Also other actors not really the tough type (more on the sensitive side) as James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Dick Powell, Van Heflin, James Dean, William Holden, etc. Entwined some modern actors as Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Stephen Dorff, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Clive Owen, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Charlie Sheen, etc.

Songs "You don't need to be more than yourself" by Elliott Murphy and "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley.

Dick Powell in "Christmas in July" (1940) by Preston Sturges

2011-12-24T15:01:00.000-08:00

Ellen Drew as Betty Casey and Dick Powell as Jimmy MacDonald in "Christmas in July" (1940), directed by Preston Sturges.

A scene from "Christmas in July" (1940) directed by Preston Sturges, starring Dick Powell and Ellen Drew. Jimmy MacDonald believes he has won the Maxford House Coffee Slogan Contest and brings his fiancée Betty to Shindel to buy her an engagement ring.

"Preston Sturges's second feature as writer-director (1940) is in many ways the most underrated of his movies —a riotous comedy-satire about capitalism that bites so deep it hurts. An ambitious but impoverished office clerk (Dick Powell) is determined to strike it rich in a contest with a stupid slogan (“If you can't sleep at night, it isn't the coffee, it's the bunk”). He's tricked by a few of his coworkers into believing that he's actually won, promptly gets promoted, and proceeds to go on a shopping spree for his neighbors and relatives.

Like much of Sturges's finest work, this captures the mood of the Depression more completely than most 30's pictures, and the brilliantly polyphonic script repeats the hero's dim-witted slogan so many times that it eventually becomes a kind of crazed tribal incantation. As usual, Sturges's supporting cast (including Ellen Drew, William Demarest, and Raymond Walburn) is luminous, and he uses it like instruments in a madcap concerto". Source: www.jonathanrosenbaum.com

Neighbourhood scene from "Christmas in July" (1940) directed by Preston Sturges, starring Dick Powell and Ellen Drew.

"Exhaustion has begun to creep on Powell’s perennial go-getter, and his manager’s (Harry Hayden) little monologue on embracing mediocrity is starting to sound reasonable. Co-workers prank him with a phony telegram: Maxford House Coffee has just picked his slogan and awarded him $25,000. The hoax snowballs - Powell’s dissonant jingle ("If you can’t sleep at night, it isn’t the coffee, it’s the bunk") suddenly becomes gold-plated, and, elated with this "commercial insurance," the company president (Ernest Truex) promptly kicks the clerk upstairs to the adverting department.

Prize money fills the streets with gifts, capitalism giveth and capitalism taketh away. "I’m not a failure, I’m a success," people tell themselves, and Sturges is there with his severe long takes, peeling back the comedy. A very barbed account of the American Dream as something between a shopping-spree bacchanalia and an uprising of tossed fruit, seemingly as cozy as The Gift of the Magi yet in reality more stinging than Revolutionary Road. King Vidor’s dehumanizing office passes by on its way to The Apartment, a black cat crosses the squashed dreamer’s path. Is it good or bad luck? "Well, that all depends on what happens afterwards." William Demarest delivers the punchline miracle. "Unhappy the land that needs miracles". Source: www.cinepassion.org

"Сhrіѕtmаs іn Julу" (Preston Ѕturgеѕ, 1940) - Full Movie.

(Christmas comes only once a year), Vincent Sherman on John Garfield.

2011-12-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

John Garfield and Lana Turner as Frank and Cora in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) directed by Tay Garnett

Frank: Maybe it's none of my business, but, uh, what's Nick sore about?

Cora: He's so crazy about the sign, he's afraid you'll claim it's your idea instead of his.

Frank: Yeah. (He winks at her) Watch.

Jake Gyllenhaal winking right eye

John Garfield winking right eye

Anne Shirley and John Garfield in "Saturday's Children" (1940) directed by Vincent Sherman

"I was able to capitalize on qualities I knew he had, naïvete, sweetness, charm, vulnerability. It was a big artistic success. He was a trained actor with many sides to his talent". -Vincent Sherman on John Garfield

Kaaren Verne and Humphrey Bogart in "All Through The Night" (1942) directed by Vincent Sherman

Vincent Sherman was well-known in Hollywood for "women's pictures" and went on to direct such fine films as "All through the night" starring Humphrey Bogart and "The Hard Way" (both in 1942). Like Patri and Odets before him, Sherman ended up playing surrogate father to John Garfield. Acting fired interest in cultural and national events. "He was so eager to find out everything there is to know about life", Sherman recalled. "He wanted to know about art, painting and music. I've never seen such eagerness to learn in all my life. I'd buy a New Republic and The Nation and let him read them, and he'd just devour them".

Sherman and Garfield would stay up through the wee hours of the night talking about theater and life. "We lived in New York at that time," Sherman recalled. Garfield wanted more "Four Daughters" type films rather than another "Blackwell's Island", and to that end he made it a habit to hang out with the studio's screenwriters at their lunch table in the commissary.

Garfield continued to socialize with the Epstein Brothers and Ring Lardner Jr., as well as Howard Koch, John Huston and others, figuring he'd have a chance to get in on the ground floor of the next good picture. He accepted the fact that these writers would make him the brunt of their jokes. "What do you hear from the fates, John?" they would yell to him across the commissary, which led everyone to laugh.

"His desire was to be with the writers, and I understood that and appreciated that. I didn't think it was anything to laugh about, but sometimes the writers would make fun of him and laugh about it", Sherman recalled. Garfield needed to be liked; he still had that insecurity that stemmed from his lack of family. "Everybody he spoke to, he used charm with", secretary Helen Levitt recalled. "He needed everyone to like him. He really worked at it." Elia Kazan agreed: "He wanted to be liked, to be valued, to be esteemed."

Priscilla Lane and John Garfield in "Four Daughters" (1939) directed by Michael Curtiz

"I wanna have it all through the night
Christmas comes only once a year
why can't anybody shed just one tear
for things that don't happen all through the night
Oh, mama, all through the night
oh, baby, do it to me all through the night
Easy, easy, baby, why don't you give it to me
all through the night" -"All Through The Night" song by Lou Reed ("The Bells" album, 1979)

At age 24, Garfield was a success. He was a movie star, the embodiment of the American Dream. He truly believed that he would be given the type of roles that made the careers of great actors like Olivier. But Garfield was in for a shock. There would be few films of the quality of "Four Daughters" at Warner Bros. "He became like a star overnight. He wasn't prepared to that kind of success so quickly, almost meteoric" -recalled Vincent Sherman.

George Brent and Bette Davis in "Dark Victory" (1939) directed by Vincent Sherman

John Garfield and Bette Davis, co-founders of The Hollywood Canteen

In "Saturday's Children" Garfield won an on-going battle with Warner Bros. to let him play something other than a thug or a criminal; unfortunately the film was a box-office flop, although critics praised Garfield's performance. Garfield plays Rims Rosson, a shy, naive young inventor who has dreams of adventure but who in reality is just another office clerk who's always strapped for money.

Christmas Eve at home with Joan Crawford and her children & stills of "Humoresque"

2011-12-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

Stills of Joan Crawford and John Garfield in "Humoresque" (1946) directed by Jean Negulesco

1949 radio show "Christmas Eve at home with Joan Crawford and her children"

Ida Lupino ("Dearly Beloved") video

2011-12-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

Ida Lupino video featuring stills and scenes from "High Sierra" with Humphrey Bogart; "On Dangerous Ground" and "Beware, My Lovely" with Robert Ryan; "Out of the Fog" and "The Sea Wolf" with John Garfield.

Still of Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart in "They Drive By Night" (1940) directed by Raoul Walsh

Songs "Dearly Beloved" by Glenn Miller Orchestra and "You don't need to be more than yourself" by Elliott Murphy

Jake Gyllenhaal will be member of jury for Berlin Film Festival

2011-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal attending 'The Good Girl' at Sundance Film Festival

Jake Gyllenhaal will serve as a member of the jury for this year’s Berlin Film Festival!

The 31-year-old actor will join director Anton Corbijn, Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi, French-Brit actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, French director Francois Ozon, and more, Deadline reports. Director Mike Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Another Year) will serve as president of the jury. The Berlin Film Festival will take place from February 9-19. Source: www.deadline.com

"Jake Gyllenhaal celebrated his 31st birthday with a SoulCycle spin class in Union Square on Monday morning and dinner with friends at Peter Luger in Brooklyn. The “Source Code” star and his actress sister, Maggie, “Love and Other Drugs” co-star Oliver Platt and a handful of close friends shared a low-key meal at the steakhouse. A spy said a “lumberjack chic” Gyllenhaal hung out at the bar and then enjoyed a cake that his mother, Naomi Foner, brought to the restaurant". Source: www.nypost.com

"JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE and KANYE WEST have been named among the Most Stylish Men of 2011 in a new InStyle magazine poll. Editors have compiled a group of the 20 best-dressed guys and singer/actor Timberlake and rapper West, who recently launched his own fashion line, have made the cut.
Also, recognized: Zac Efron, Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson, soccer ace David Beckham, Jennifer Aniston's boyfriend Justin Theroux and actor Jake Gyllenhaal". Source: www.abc2news.com

Happy Christmas Holidays 2011!

2011-12-21T15:04:00.000-08:00

Bérénice Bejo as Peppy Miller in "The Artist" (2011) directed by Michel Hazanavicius

Anita Page holding her Christmas wreath

Helen Mack hanging the wreath in Christmas

Joan Crawford on the chimney as Santa in 1925

Irene Dunne in front of a Christmas tree

Virginia Grey on a chimney in 1940's

Barbara Stanwyck as Elizabeth in "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945)

A very handsome Robert Ryan, circa 1948

Suzy Parker wearing Tiger Lil Christmas lingerie on the cover of LIFE, on 3rd December 1951, photo by Sharland for Life Magazine

Debbie Reynolds posing inside a Christmas present

Julie Christie besides a Christmas tree in 1965

Robert Pattinson, photographed by Annie Leibovitz, Styled by Jessica Diehl, from Vanity Fair’s Year 2011

Emmy Rossum as Laura Chapman and Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam Hall in "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004)

Jake Gyllenhaal (when he smiles he can melt a whole winter season, and he always warms my heart!)

Emmy Rossum in Zooey magazine - January 2012

Happy 93rd Birthday, Audrey Totter!

2011-12-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 93rd Birthday Audrey Totter, born on 20th December 1918.

Among the certified classics she participated in were "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) in which she had a small role as John Garfield's blonde floozie pick-up.

Things brightened up considerably with "The Lady in the Lake" (1947) co-starring Robert Montgomery as detective Philip Marlowe. The film was not well received and is now better remembered for its interesting subjective camera technique. Audrey's first hit as a femme fatale co-star came on loanout to Warner Bros. In "The Unsuspected" (1947), she cemented her dubious reputation in "B" noir as a trampy, gold-digging niece married to alcoholic Hurd Hatfield.

She then went on a truly enviable roll with "High Wall" (1947), as a psychiatrist to patient Robert Taylor, "The Saxon Charm" (1948) with Montgomery (again) and Susan Hayward, "Alias Nick Beal" (1949) as a loosely-moraled "Girl Friday" to Ray Milland, in the boxing film "The Set-Up" (1949) as the beleaguered wife of washed-up boxer Robert Ryan, "Any Number Can Play" (1949) with Clark Gable and as a two-timing spouse in "Tension" (1949) with Richard Basehart.

Audrey Totter and Robert Ryan in "The Set-Up" (1949) directed by Robert Wise

Richard Basehart and Audrey Totter in "Tension" (1949) directed by John Berry

-James Bowden: Some people assumed you'd marry Clark Gable because the two of you used to go out together.

-Audrey Totter: I never did. I knew him since "Adventure." Then we made "Any Number Can Play" (1949). Yes, we dated. He was a tremendous guy, very witty, with a huge romantic aura. But all the girls he dated looked a little like his late wife Carole Lombard. He was still in love with her. So we settled for being great friends.

Although the studio groomed Audrey to become a top star, it was not to be. Perhaps because she was too good at being bad. The 1950s film scene softened considerably and MGM began focusing on family-styled comedy and drama. Audrey's tough-talking dames were no longer a commodity and MGM soon dropped her in 1951. She signed for a time with Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox as well but her era had come and gone. Film offers began to evaporate. At around this time she married Leo Fred, a doctor, and instead began focusing on marriage and family. TV gave her career a slight boost in the 1960s and 1970s, including regular roles in "Cimarron City" (1958) and "Our Man Higgins" (1962) as a suburban mom opposite Stanley Holloway's British butler.

Happy 31st Birthday, Jake Gyllenhaal!!

2011-12-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal, here in Weirdland we hope your #31 birthday is filled with joy in company of your most beloved ones and friends!

Jake Gyllenhaal running errands pre-birthday

2011-12-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

Actor Jake Gyllenhaal spotted out running some errands in West Hollywood, CA. (December 16, 2011)

The ever adorable Jake Gyllenhaal will celebrate his 31st birthday on Monday and continues to be busier than ever. He is currently working on a crime drama film End Of Watch with America Ferrera and Michael Pena.
Gyllenhaal looks great in a casual pair of green khaki cargo pants, a navy blue sweat shirt and a growing beard.

John Garfield (You don't need to be more than yourself) video

2011-12-17T17:06:00.000-08:00

John Garfield (You don't need to be more than yourself) video featuring pictures, stills and scenes starring John Garfield: "Four Daughters" with Priscilla Lane, "They Made Me A Criminal" with Gloria Dickson, "Castle On The Hudson" with Ann Sheridan, "The Sea Wolf" with Ida Lupino, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" with Lana Turner, "Body & Soul" with Lilli Palmer, "We Were Strangers" with Jennifer Jones, "Pride of The Marines" with Eleanor Parker, "Humoresque" with Joan Crawford, "The Breaking Point" with Patricia Neal, etc.

Songs "All American Boy" by Bobby Bare, "California Stars" by Wilco & Billy Bragg, and "You don't need to be more than yourself" by Elliott Murphy

John Garfield video. Actress Lee Grant defined Garfield as "smoldering, somber, troubled street-guy kind of presence".

Soundtrack: Hymne à l'Amour Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas

"Pulp Fiction" in chronological order & boxing dramas (The Set-Up, Body & Soul)

2011-12-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

The legendary movie "Pulp Fiction" (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino (starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman) placed into chronological order.

“Tarantino works with trash, and by analyzing, criticizing, and formalizing it, he emerges with something new, just as Godard made a lyrical work of art in 'Breathless' out of his memories of casually crappy American B-movies. Of course Godard was, and is, a Swiss-Parisian intellectual…. 'Pulp Fiction', by contrast, displays an entertainer’s talent for luridness.” -David Denby, New York

The complex narrative organization of 'Pulp Fiction' plays with temporal sequence, so that it is difficult to understand the causal connection between events. Most jarringly, Vincent, a leading character, is killed halfway through, only to reappear and play a significant role later in the film—but earlier in the temporal sequence of events.

Robert Ryan as Stoker Thompson in "The Set-Up" (1949) directed by Robert Wise. Like many noir protagonists, Stoker is looking for the decisive lucky break that'll put him in the big time. But he's doomed without knowing it. His manager, who expects him to lose anyway, has agreed for him to take a dive in the third round. He just hasn't told Stoker. "Yeah, top spot. And I'm just one punch away" -Stoker Thompson.

John Garfield as Charley Davis in "Body & Soul" (1947) directed by Robert Rossen

There can hardly ever have been a face so perfectly suited to the compromise, suffering and hard-won understanding at the heart of the big-screen boxing lesson than the star of ‘Body and Soul’, John Garfield. While Paul Newman looked plaintive and martyred in ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’ (1956) and Robert Ryan skulked, complicit, through ‘The Set-Up’ (1949), Garfield’s fallen-angel countenance offers a far more complete portrait of hope and frustration.

Garfield’s performance alone is enough to elevate it into the highest echelons of sporting dramas. Its few, brutal fight scenes are a clear inspiration for the purgatorial pummelings of ‘Raging Bull’, and Garfield’s eventual predicament even foreshadows that of Bruce Willis’s wilful slugger in ‘Pulp Fiction’. A poem that has no time for poetry and a parable with little taste for allegory, ‘Body and Soul’ forgoes the butterfly for the bee every time, yet still soars. Source: www.timeout.com

Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in "On The Waterfront" (1954) directed by Elia Kazan

After the war, "Body and Soul" returned Americans to the issues posed in "Golden Boy" and developed them with renewed eloquence in the noir style. "On the Waterfront" (1954) featured a retired boxer, haunted by his fall.

'Pulp Fiction' (Quentin Tarantino; Miramax, 1994) Written by Quentin Tarantino; cinematography by Andrzej Sekula; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Uma Thurman, Rosanna Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino

"Body and Soul" (1947) and "The Set-Up" (1949), both feature a boxer who is under the influence of shady organizations that operate in the underworld of boxing world. But in general, boxing became a common profession for the noir loner, as seen in films like "The Killers" (1946) directed by Robert Siodmak and "Killer’s Kiss" (1955) directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Butch the boxer and Julius the hit man in 'Pulp Fiction' (1994) strive to escape from death in the underworld, but the ironic play of pop culture toys with the earnestness of their quest. These films engage with the body and soul conflict, offering up fresh perspectives that bear witness to the fertility of the genre in addressing the deepest concerns of its audience.

Message from Jake Gyllenhaal to the troops

2011-12-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

WWE Tribute To The Troops 2011 - Special Message From Jake Gyllenhaal

Jake Gyllenhaal arriving at LAX Airport, on 13rd December 2011

December 13 - Arriving At LAX Airport
Jake Gyllenhaal leaving Murakami Sushi Restaurant in Hollywood on 13rd December 2011

Jake Gyllenhaal at a Jay-Z Kayne West concert in L.A., on 13rd December 2011

Michelle Williams channels Marilyn Monroe

2011-12-15T16:09:00.000-08:00

Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe in "My Week With Marilyn" (2011) directed by Simon Curtis

Nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced this morning. "My Week With Marilyn" received three nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Michelle. The awards will air January 15 on NBC. Source: www.goldenglobes.org

In this interview, likely Oscar nominee for her performance in "My Week with Marilyn" Michelle Williams talks about the script, about taking on the role of this iconic blonde, what audiences should take away from the film, and what it was like to work with Eddie Redmayne and Kenneth Branagh.

Michelle Williams channels Marilyn Monroe.

See behind the scenes on our December cover shoot where we caught up with Michelle Williams.

Ida Lupino (with Humphrey Bogart, John Garfield, Robert Ryan) & her films

2011-12-15T02:49:00.000-08:00

Ida Lupino does her Christmas shopping circa 1939

For Stanley and Connie Lupino, the brightest moment of the war years was the birth of their daughter Ida. They had almost named her Aida, after the princess of the Verdi opera, an appropriate suggestion of theatrical royalty. Ida's sister, Rita, was born in 1921. Both children soon learned that emotions were for display; laugh, cry, speak boldly and beautifully. Emotional restraint was not for the Lupinos. Ida never had a normal childhood because of her parents' touring and late hours.

"Her self-confidence is utterly sumptuous". -Reporter Alma Whitaker about Ida Lupino

Ida Lupino in "Ready For Love" (1934)

Calling herself Ida Ray, Lupino obtained an agent and immediately landed a part. A German director who had seen her on the set of "Love Race" hired the girl with luminous blue eyes and milk-white skin. Ironically, she was dropped from her only scene for fear her attractiveness would overshadow the lead actress. After this happened several times, Ida became known as "the girl who was too good-looking." In January 1932, Ida officially enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Student life was crowded with activity and admirers flocked around. Ida had her first boyfriend, a fellow student named Johnny, who nicknamed her "Loops." They spent their free hours together chatting before the fire in Ida's room.

George Bernard Shaw, regarded as the greatest living playwright of the English language said of Ida: "She is the only girl in the world as mad as I am."

Ida Lupino and Richard Arlen in "Ready For Love" (1934)

Paramount decided that Lupino's screen debut would be in "Search for Beauty", a romantic comedy about Olympic champions who became entangled with con men. Ida had a knockout scene: dressed in silk pajamas, she danced a snakehips atop a table to save voluptuous Toby Wing from a roomful of evil-minded drunks. Toby Wing became Ida's friend. She found Ida full of fun. Ida's second Paramount release was "Come on Marines", in which Richard Arlen gallantly leads an armed squad into the jungle to rescue beauties from a Paris finishing school. Ida scoffed at reports that she had come to America just to play "Alice in Wonderland". "You cannot play naive if you're not. I never had any childhood", Ida said. About her friends, she said: "I cannot tolerate fools, won't have anything to do with them. I only want to associate with brilliant people".

Since her boyfriend Johnny's death, Ida had experienced an intense emotional emptiness.

The initial encounter of Lupino and Hayward had produced "tangible hostility." While studying a script on the set of "Money for Speed", Ida had looked up to see a stranger watching her. When they were introduced afterward, Ida was icy. "He bored me to extinction," she later recalled. "It was strange but the dislike for each other amounted to contempt." Hayward sized her up as "just another dizzy blonde." He came to America and found success on Broadway, winning the 1934 New York Critics Award. Soon he began a film career in Hollywood.

On her sixteenth birthday, Howard Hughes arranged a party for her. He asked her what she wanted. "Binoculars", answered Ida. "What on earth do you want binoculars for?" "To look at the stars", she replied. Hughes gave her the most expensive pair he could find. But presents never won her heart.

Ida admired the press-shy Garbo. "I am a fan. Not because she is a great actress, but because she has dared the wolves and kept her splendid isolation".

Ida Lupino in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

She was asked to return to Los Angeles for a dramatic role in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", starring Basil Rathbone. Ida portrayed a terrified woman who comes to Holmes with a strange drawing that threatens her brother with death. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy captured the eerie atmosphere, which was enhanced by the music of Cyril J. Mockridge, who composed a haunting Inca funeral dirge. A crucial scene in which Ida weeps over the body of her slain brother was beautifully played. As she sobs, she hears the faint tones of the frightening Inca dirge, the harbinger of another murder; fear, then stark terror, sweep over her, culminating in a shrill, blood-curdling scream.

Ida Lupino in "Life Begins at Eight Thirty" (1942)

Ida felt that Louis Hayward was one of the few people who truly understood her. She defined her concept of love as "blind devotion." In interviews, she said she had few illusions about life but simply followed the conscious instinct of self-preservation. But she was deeply in love with Louis Hayward. Louis was certain that his agent, Arthur Lyons, could get Ida's career moving again. Lyons had for years been the dynamo who made success stories happen. From his plush office at 356 North Camden Drive in Beverly Hills, he directed one of the most affluent artist agencies in show business. Lyons represented such stars as Jack Benny, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball, Ray Milland, Sydney Greenstreet, John Garfield, Hedy Lamarr, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Eugene O'Neill.

Lyons promptly swung into action. He sent Ida to see Harry Cohn, who ran Columbia Pictures. The tough, crude, astute boss was blunt: "You are not beautiful, Ida, but you've got a funny little pan." Ida must have winced at the comment but eagerly signed a two-picture contract. Ida's depression vanished. Louis proposed, and she accepted. On November 17, 1938, Ida became Mrs. Louis Hayward in a quiet civil ceremony held in the Santa Barbara courthouse. Their new home, discovered by accident and purchased on impulse, was at 1766 Westridge in Brentwood.

Lupino was summoned to Warner's office and offered a seven-year contract. He told her she would be "another Bette Davis." Ida recognized Warner's transparent strategy. If the queen of the lot refused to do a picture or caused trouble, Lupino would be at hand. On May 3, 1940, she signed a one-year contract with Warner Bros. that permitted her to freelance elsewhere. Her salary would be two thousand dollars a week for two pictures.

Publicity still of Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart in "They Drive by Night" (1940) directed by Raoul Walsh

"They Drive by Night" was completed in thirty-three working days, for $498,000. Even before its release, Warner Bros. knew it had a winner, thanks mainly to Ida Lupino. Hal Wallis, head of studio production, wanted her signed for a third film. On July 8, a preview was held at the Warner Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Ida ignited the screen; she projected a fascinating blend of beauty, danger, and deceit. Variety reported that the audience had twice broken out with applause. Newsweek proclaimed, "Raft and Bogart honest men, but Lupino steals picture."

Other reviews were equally laudatory: "Miss Lupino goes crazy about as well as it can be done," noted the New York Times. The World Telegram stated that she finally had gotten the break she deserved "and the result is a performance so superb that she immediately becomes one of the screen's foremost dramatic actresses."

Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino in "High Sierra" (1941) directed by Raoul Walsh

Mark Hellinger chose Lupino for his next film, which he described as "a great yarn." Despite the restrictive guidelines, W.R. Burnett and John Huston completed a masterful script-the simple yet compelling story of an Indiana farm boy who turns to crime. Bogart plays Roy "Mad Dog" Earle, and Ida plays Marie, a young woman picked up at a dime-a-dance joint, who begs to stay with Earle because she has nowhere else to go.

Production began August 5; the company assembled for exterior scenes at the mountain resort of Big Bear. Initially, the relationship between Lupino and Bogart was cool. As she later disclosed, "I have a way of kidding with a straight face; so has Bogie. Neither of us recognized the trait in the other".

Matters were complicated by Mayo Methot, Bogart's wife. As the picture progressed, Ida and Bogie established an onscreen rapport and an off-camera friendship. The volatile Mrs. Bogart constantly hovered about the set, making her husband nervous. Dialogue director Irving Rapper knew why Mayo was there, as did everyone else. "Mayo was very jealous of Ida," says Rapper.

The script called for Lupino to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Bogart took her to the side and, glancing at director Walsh, told her: "Listen, doll, if you can't cry, just remember one thing -I'm going to take this picture away from you." Ida laughed, just as Bogart had wanted. "All right," he said, "now you're relaxed. If you can't relate it to me or the character go back to your childhood," he counseled. "Can you remember when you had to say goodbye to somebody, somebody you loved? And you thought you weren't going to see them again?" "Yes", responded Ida. "Well, think of that, baby, think of it!" Ida saw tears in his eyes. The final scene of High Sierra is powerfully moving. Marie's tears of sadness are transformed into tears of elation as she realizes that the tortured soul of Roy Earle is finally free.

"High Sierra" was to remain one of the greatest pictures of Ida's career and quite memorable personally for her experience with Humphrey Bogart. Initially, Ida had found Bogart's pleasure in needling people upsetting, but by the film's end, she understood that he, like herself, was a person with many sides, some of them contradictory. She grew to like Bogart and never forgot his unexpected support when the tears wouldn't come. As she was to remember: "He was the most loyal, wonderful guy in the world."

Ida Lupino and John Garfield in "The Sea Wolf" (1941) directed by Michael Curtiz

Ida rehearsed daily with co-stars Edward G. Robinson and John Garfield. Robinson considered twenty-sevenyear-old Garfield one of the best young actors he had ever encountered. Ida was also enthralled. "His real name was Julius Garfinkle. He was wonderful and I loved him. He and I were like brother and sister." She admired her new friend and the passionate political beliefs that led him to champion the economically disadvantaged. Garfield's political boldness and his cocky spirit matched Lupino's innate rebelliousness.

As expected, Robinson, as the bestial yet intelligent Wolf Larsen, dominated the picture. "I'd rather rule in hell than be a servant in heaven," he says. One reviewer called the picture "Little Caesar at sea."

Though overshadowed by Robinson's masterful acting, Lupino was praised as "excellent... the girl with a past. Her intelligent and forthright playing gives complete conviction to the role." Author William Saroyan was so impressed that he wrote, "Give Miss Lupino something to act in and there's a fifty-fifty chance that she will be the finest actress in the world."

Ida could be wickedly funny herself, but she publicly acknowledged her "terrible temper," and explained that she tried to control it but found that "keeping it back sometimes upsets me." Louis discovered he could lure his wife from her black moods by laughter, but her volatile fits and evanescent rages caused slammed doors and marital scars. Ida felt more comfortable around men. The distance she kept from her fellow females masked a grave insecurity and a fear of competition. But for Ida, women, especially actresses, were a curious breed: "A woman in show business isn't honest with herself... so how can she be honest with another woman? We are all of us acting every minute of the day and night."

“There was a certain kind of fantasy, a certain imagination that is not accepted now. The world is too small. Those were glamorous days.” ~Ann Sheridan about her time in Hollywood

Ida Lupino & Ann Sheridan dancing on the set of "They Drive By Night" (From the book "Here’s Looking at You Kid: 50 Years of Fighting, Working and Dreaming at Warner Bros." by James R. Silke)

Despite her comments, Lupino's contradictory nature brought exceptions. Ann Sheridan was always a dear chum because she was "honest, feminine and yet had masculine directness."

After fourteen months of marriage, Howard said goodbye. He was barely out the front door when Louella Parsons had the story in print: "The strangest separation of all time is that of Ida Lupino and Howard Duff... there had been no quarrel, no trouble of any kind, and Ida thought everything was going along smoothly when Howard walked out of the house. He said he was leaving and was through."

When Barbara Stanwyck turned down the role of Stella Goodwin in "Out of the Fog", Ida jumped at it. Producer Henry Blanke asked George Raft to play the heavy, but he declined. Bogart asked for the role, but Lupino used her influence and Blanke agreed that her pal John Garfield would play the extortionist.

Ida Lupino and John Garfield in "Out of the Fog" (1941) directed by Anatole Litvak

Anatole Litvak, highly regarded at Warner Bros. for such successes as "City for Conquest" and "Confessions of a Nazi Spy", would direct. Ida pored over her script, quite excited by the fine writing and drama in Shaw's play-an honest depiction of social injustice, a study of "gentle people" who are pushed so far they rise up to exterminate the aggressor. The screenplay by Robert Rossen, Jerry Wald and Robert Macaulay remained true to the play, maintaining as much realism as possible.

On the film's release, the publicity department proclaimed "Lupino and Garfield-Most Exciting New Screen Team!". "Out of the Fog" opened to good reviews. "A moving and thought-provoking drama... Lupino created another outstanding character in her repertoire of tragic and oblique women, etches unforgettable. John Garfield makes his satanic portrayal the essence of symbolic villainy," said Variety.

After his difficulty obtaining film work, Garfield returned to his roots, the New York stage. He was a smash in "The Big Knife", "Peer Gynt" and "Golden Boy". Garfield had sent Ida tickets to see him onstage. She arrived at his apartment with a writer friend from the New York Times for a toast before the performance. Garfield opened the door in his dressing gown. Ida was taken aback by his haggard appearance. "Hi, doll," she greeted him. "Oh, it's good to see you, Lupi." Ida introduced her escort, then Garfield prepared cocktails. "I have a little present for you, Lupi." He glanced at Ida's friend, then said: "I'm going to ask her to come into my bedroom but not for what you think." As Ida followed him, she felt uneasy. Garfield looked deathly ill, and he lacked energy and exuberance. He pointed to a basket of flowers, champagne and glasses.

Ida read the note: "To my favorite sister. Sorry, I'm not going to make it tonight but I've always loved you, kid. Julie." Ida was perplexed. "What do you mean?" she asked. "I'm not going to make it tonight or any other night," answered Garfield. "I'm booked." Ida was shocked. "I'm glad you gave me a good stiff drink. Now I have a present for you. All that junk about you being a Communist has been cleared up." Ida and her friend declined to see the play, since Garfield wasn't appearing. Ida, as she had promised, returned to Garfield's place to say goodnight. She was still worried about her friend. She tapped softly at the door and found it open. The living room was dark. In his bedroom a single lamp on a nightstand fell on Garfield, propped up on pillows sleeping. "Goodnight, Johnny. We all love you," Ida whispered. He opened his eyes and thanked her. She leaned down and hugged him. "Would you mind holding my hand till I drop off?" he asked. The words sent a chill through Ida. "You bet," she told him. "I'll sit here till daylight if you want." She held his hand until he was sound asleep.

Ida Lupino & John Garfield in "Out Of The Fog" -We Don't Believe In Pirates (Movie Clip)

-Ida Lupino (Stella): All I know is that when he talks, I feel like I'm burning. He knows it, too, and even so, he laughs, and then I get hot and cold all over, and I feel like yelling. Nothing that ever happened to me before made me feel like this.

What lay behind the penetrating blue eyes? I was curious. She craved solitude and attention simultaneously, just as her entrancing eyes harbored both fire and ice, love and hate, brilliance and wildness. The rays of emotion she emitted were intense, like those of a revolving prism, unique and exceedingly bright. -"Ida Lupino: A Biography" by William Donati (2000)

Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino in "Beware My Lovely" (1952) directed by Harry Horner

Ida Lupino plays a pretty widow who impulsively hires a handyman (Robert Ryan) to look after her house. She soon learns Ryan is a dangerous schizophrenic, but by the time she comes to this realization she is unable to escape her house. The tension mounts apace, leading to an unexpected but quite logical finale. Produced by Lupino's then-husband Collier Young, "Beware My Lovely" was released by RKO Radio. The tension in the film is similar to what you would get in a Hitchcock film. This film is basically Robert Ryan versus Ida Lupino. These two great actors do an excellent job handling the bulk of the work. Lupino is one of the best looking old maids you will ever see and Ryan looks like his head is going to explode any minute, of course he made a living in those roles. In this role, however, Ryan is much more vulnerable than normal but just as volatile.

Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan in "On Dangerous Ground" (1952) directed by Nicholas Ray

"One of the loveliest of Nick Ray's movies... a harsh film noir [that] gradually shifts to an ethereal romanticism reminiscent of Frank Borzage."—Dave Kehr

Perhaps the purest expression of Ray's belief in the transformative power of love and a classic of its genre, "On Dangerous Ground" is among his most beautiful and moving works. Written by A. I. Bezzerides of "Kiss Me Deadly" fame, the film opens in the harsh urban world of noir, Bernard Herrmann's score flaying nerves as Robert Ryan's coiled cop takes to the mean streets as a semi-psychotic avenging angel ("Why do you make me do it?" the tormented Ryan screams at the latest lowlife he pummels within an inch of his life). It is hard to say what is more stirring: Ryan's forsaken aloneness or Lupino's isolate vulnerability. The daring stylistic and tonal contrasts between the film's two halves, and the theme of the difference between moral and physical sight, intensify the film's tragic irony; in the end, all ground seems dangerous. Lupino actually directed some scenes when Nicholas Ray became ill during the shoot.

“I’d love to see more women working as directors and producers. If Hollywood is to remain on the top of the film world, I know one thing for sure —there must be more experimentation with out-of-the-way film subjects”. -Ida Lupino

“She was a woman director of real personality; her pictures are as tough and quick as those of Samuel Fuller. She was a pioneer for women, especially because she carved out her own territory instead of just waiting to be asked… She proved herself a competent director of second features, and an early discoverer of feminist themes. Thus 'The Bigamist' is not just melodrama, but a critique of woman’s vulnerability.” - David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002)

“She was so real, offbeat and just lots of fun.” — Cornel Wilde [Actor]

“She wasn’t always easy, but she was worth it.” — Vincent Sherman [Director]

“She is a very warm, very sensitive, very intelligent lady.” —Claire Trevor [Actress]

“She was electric. She never had the popularity she should have had. She was a fine actress. She was beautiful. She had a fabulous figure and was a great director. Maybe she was too strong for those days.” —Sally Forrest [Actress]

James Dean as Jett Rink striking oil in "Giant"

2011-12-15T02:24:00.000-08:00

One of James Dean's greatest scenes (along with the birthday scene from Elia Kazan's "East of Eden") in "Giant" directed by George Stevens. Jett Rink is a great rise-and-fall story, embodied by a 24-year old Dean in his swan song. He would infamously die just 2 weeks after wrapping up his scenes for this movie. Film legend James Dean in his final role as Jett Rink, here taking stock of the little piece of Texas land left to him by Luz Benedict. Set magnificently to music by (the also legendary) Dmitri Tiompkin. "James Dean's talent glows like an oilfield flare.

When James Dean’s character Jett Rink strikes oil as a wildcatter in George Steven’s 1956 epic, "Giant", he goes up to the big house where Liz Taylor lives in order to laugh and drip oil all over the front porch. Covered in West Texas Intermediate crude (later to become the benchmark grade, traded in New York) he gets, shall we say, a little forward with Liz. That’s when Rock Hudson steps in, and decks him.

Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson in a publicity still for 'Giant' (1956), George Stevens' mammoth tale of oil men in Texas.

Jack Warner tried to have certain scenes modified in "Giant". Namely, the reference Elizabeth Taylor makes to the oil depletion allowance which favored oil companies. Something like, "How about an appreciation for first class brains?" The oil interests put pressure on the studio, and Jack Warner begged George Stevens to take the line out. George said, "No dice."

James Dean as Jett Rink, soaked in oil in "Giant" (1956) directed by George Stevens

Giant and Texas Oil Tycoons: Through the years Bick attempts to buy the parcel in order to consolidate his land, but the stubborn Jett Rink refuses to sell. Jett's parcel later produces black gold, making him fabulously wealthy as a Texas oil driller. Bick, however, prefers to remain a rancher up until World War II, where he grudgingly begins to drill for oil on his property in order to support the war effort.

When Jett Rink strikes oil and runs in triumph to the Benedict house, Edna Ferber (author of "Giant" novel in 1952) writes: "his face was grotesque with smears of dark grease and his damp bacchanalian locks hung in tendrils over his forehead. He came on, he opened the door of the screened veranda, he stood before the company in his dirt and grease, his eyes shining wildly... The man stood, his legs wide apart as though braced against the world. The black calloused hands with the fingers curiously widespread as they hung, his teeth white in the grotesquely smeared face".

Considerating the differences between the times when "Giant" was filmed and the modern oil field tools, we can trace a history of advancing drilling techniques in this field. "Giant" was set in the 1930′s, a time when the price of oil was controlled by the Texas Railroad Commission because of overwhelming supply. The timeline on the price of oil during this period is actually a story worth tracking. Using the BP Statistical Review’s larger database on the price of oil going back to 1861, it appears that by 1920, the production of the Model T may have triggered enough oil demand to finally get prices over 3.00 a barrel (about 34.00 in today’s dollars). But then the Black Giant of East Texas was discovered. And that sent prices back down to uneconomic levels.

Ideal Star: Gloria Dickson (1939), Jennifer Anniston (2011)

2011-12-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Gloria Dickson (1916–1945) Birth Name: Thais Dickerson

Gloria Dickson was established early as one of Warner Brothers leading ingenues. She married Perc Westmore, Warners’ Make-up Artist, and a member of the famous Westmore Cosmetics Family. She began to drink heavily. Perc too was a heavy drinker.

Gloria Dickson and John Garfield had a torrid affair. [while filming "They Made Me A Criminal" directed by Busby Berkely in 1939]

Gloria and Perc divorced. Her physical appearance had changed, and soon she was doing character roles. She married twice more; her last husband, an ex-middleweight boxer, was the former bodyguard to Jean Harlow. Tragically, Gloria Dickson died in 1945, just months shy of her 29th birthday in a house fire. Source: classicalmoviechat.com

14 September 1938 on the set of 'They Made Me a Criminal': "I found that a window in one of the walls built on the sound stage offered the best view of a scene being played by John Garfield, Gloria Dickson and some of the Dead End kids. Soon I was joined by Perc Westmore, head of the makeup department and husband of the actress. We watched several unsuccessful takes of a different scene that was supposed to end in a tender cinch between Miss Dickson and Garfield.

The latter finally came to the window and said, ‘Perc, please get away from there. I can’t make love to a gal while her husband is peeking though a window at us.’ But Westmore wouldn’t move. We both moved, though, when an irate cameraman told us we were in the scene. And sure enough we were —reflected by a mirror on the opposite wall of the set. If any of the earlier takes had been approved, astonished audiences would have noticed a couple of complete strangers peeking through a window and smirking at a heavy love scene." Source: www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com

LIFE magazine (January 2, 1939) Ideal Star: "This breathtaking morsel of feminine loveliness, this surpassing goddess of men's dreams is Hollywood's idea of the Ideal Movie Star. Mr. Westmore (Warner Bros' commissar of beauty) with the help of a studio artist he conconcted his Dream Star from parts of four real Warner goddesses: the hair of Gloria Dickson (Mrs. Perc Westmore), the nose of Olivia de Havilland, the lips of Ann Sheridan and the eyes of Priscilla Lane. This composite Venus would be worth at least half a million dollars a year -if she could act". -Oliver Hotspur (Hollywood, CA)

Gloria Dickson

Olivia de Havilland

Ann Sheridan

Priscilla Lane

Myrna Loy as Nora Charles in "Shadow of the Thin Man" (1941) directed by W.S. Van Dyke

Bronx native Irving Brecher (1914–2008) wrote and co-wrote such titles as 'Shadow of the Thin Man' and 'Meet Me in St. Louis' (which earned him an Oscar nomination), 'Somebody Loves Me' in 1952 and the iconic pilot for 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' in 1959.

Ann-Margret as Kim MacAfee in "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963) directed by George Sidney, screenplay by Irving Brecher & Michael Stewart

For his last script, Brecher adapted the satiristic musical 'Bye Bye Birdie' for the screen in 1963. He then retired from show business, eventually writing a memoir detailing his experiences in Hollywood, including his encounters with Milton Berle, Judy Garland, and Fred Astaire. Source: movies.nytimes.com

-Hank Rosenfeld: "I watched a documentary about the actor John Garfield on Turner Classic Movie channel, and it said he died at 39 when the House Un-American Activities Committee hounded him because his wife was a Communist and he refused to name names".

-Irving Brecher (screenwriter, director, jokester): "Fuck Turner (TCM), Garfield was on top of a hooker." -"The Wicked Wit of the West: The last great Golden-Age screenwriter shares the hilarity and heartaches of working with Groucho, Garland, Gleason, Burns, Berle, Benny and many more" by Irving Brecher & Hank Rosenfeld (2009)

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston as Holden and Justine in "The Good Girl" (2002) directed by Miguel Arteta

-Holden: "You're a hooker, you hooker".

-Justine: "Holden, calm down! Alright?"
-Holden: "I can't calm down! Easy if I was a hooker like you then I'd calm down all over town!"

Jennifer Aniston attends the 'Meine Erfundene Frau' (My Imaginary Wife) photocall at Hotel Adlon on February 21, 2011 in Berlin.

Here are some highlights from the newly crowned sexiest lady...

-MH: If you could name one woman the sexiest of all-time, who would you have picked?

-Jennifer: It's a tie between Brigitte Bardot and Gloria Steinem. But if I had to choose one, I'd say Gloria because, well, she's the full package. That's sexy.

Marilyn Monroe in "How To Marry A Millionaire" (1953) directed by Jean Negulesco

Also rounding up the top five were Raquel Welch, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears and Madonna. Ursula Andress came in at number six with Bettie Page, Pamela Anderson and Jane Fonda taking the next few spots. Source: extratv.warnerbros.com

Jennifer Aniston is a beautiful woman with an amazing body and an envious lifestyle. But it comes to some amazement that the 42-year-old actress has been named Sexiest Woman of All Time. Men's Health readers voted the former Friends star to the top of the list above many other screen sirens before her who had more bombshell qualities.

The 42-year-old actress starred in her most sexual role this year in the movie 'Horrible Bosses' where she played the flirtatious dentist with the filthy mouth. Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson (Breaking Down HQ stills)

2011-12-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

New Twilight Saga "Breaking Dawn" Pictures Of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in Their Dream Sequence Wedding

Happy Anniversary, Frank Sinatra!

2011-12-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

Frank Sinatra won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Donna Reed won Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Alma 'Lorene' Burke) in "From Here To Eternity" (1953)

From Here To Eternity -Barfight scene starring Frank Sinatra as Pvt. Angelo Maggio in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) directed by Fred Zinnemann

From Here to Eternity Rehearsals with Frank Sinatra Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift. Silent footage. Public Domain. From the National Archives.

Hemingway's Heroes in film: Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield

2011-12-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

John Garfield, Ida Lupino and Edward G. Robinson in "The Sea Wolf" (1941) directed by Michael Curtiz

THE SEA WOLF (1941): "Some of the more memorable sea captains include Captain Ahab in 'Moby Dick', Captain Bligh in 'Mutiny on the Bounty', and Captain Queeg in 'The Caine Mutiny' (played by Bogart). But none of these misguided authority figures can match the sadism and brutality of Wolf Larsen, the megalomaniac captain of Jack London's novel, 'The Sea Wolf'. Larsen is a fascinating enigma - a mystic and a philosopher but also a dangerous manic-depressive who subjects his crew to outrageous acts of cruelty; at one point, Larsen decides to give the ship's cook a bath by towing him in the schooner's wake - an action that results in the cook losing his foot to a shark.

Sylvia Sidney and Humphrey Bogart in "The Wagons Roll at Night" (1941) directed by Ray Enright

Michael Curtiz tried to draft Humphrey Bogart for the part but he was committed to another picture ('The Wagons Roll at Night') so John Garfield, who had made his screen debut in 'Four Daughters' (1938), also directed by Curtiz, was tapped for the role.

It was a personal triumph for John Garfield who counted Jack London among his favorite authors but it was an even bigger honor for Edward G. Robinson who had been a fan of the novel since he first read it at age eleven.

In his autobiography, 'All My Yesterdays', Edward G. Robinson recalled: "I had no idea at the time that the domineering Captain Wolf Larsen was to be characterized by critics as a Nietzsche superman; I just considered him to be a wonderful character. And that's how I played him, with John Garfield playing George Leach.

John Garfield was one of the best young actors I ever encountered, but his passions about the world were so intense that I feared any day he would have a heart attack. It was not long before he did."

George Leach, who was drowned in the original novel, becomes the central love interest in this version, escaping to safety with Ruth Webster. All of these changes actually strengthened the film on a dramatic level and were further enhanced by Sol Polito's atmospheric cinematography and Anton Grot's art direction - both heavily influenced by the look of German Expressionist cinema". Source: www.tcm.com

Film Noir and Existencialism:

Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner in "The Killers" (1946) directed by Robert Siodmak, based on a short story written by Ernest Hemingway. The prototypic Hemingway hero must face evil, futility, and the nothingness of existence alone and unaided. Defeat is inevitable and unavoidable; only defeat with dignity offers hope of redemption.

Arthur Schopenhauer cited those very features of the human condition that pessimism takes as its point of departure: “The vanity of existence is revealed in the whole form existence assumes... in the contingency and relativity of all things; in continual becoming without being; in continual desire without satisfaction; in the continual frustration of striving of which life consists.”

Schopenhauer presents a “moral” critique, one that fastens on the vanity of human wishes, on the spectacle of human folly and wickedness, and, more ominously, on the ill will, malice, and cruelty of other people, whom Schopenhauer likens to a “den of sharks and swindlers.” As Jean-Paul Sartre writes in 'Being and Nothingness': “For human reality, to be is to choose oneself.”

“How do you get through nights if you can’t sleep? I guess you find out like you find out how it feels to lose your husband. I guess you find out all right. I guess you find out everything in this goddamned life. I guess you do all right. I guess I’m probably finding out right now. You just go dead inside and everything is easy. You just get dead like most people are most of the time. I guess that’s how it is all right. I guess that’s just about what happens to you. Well, I’ve got a good start. I’ve got a good start if that’s what you have to do. I guess that’s what you have to do all right. I guess that’s it. I guess that’s what it comes to. All right. I got a good start then. I’m way ahead of everybody now.” -To Have and Have Not (1937) novel by Ernest Hemingway

Patricia Neal as Leona Charles and Phyllis Thaxter as Lucy Morgan in "The Breaking Point" (1950) directed by Michael Curtiz

"The Breaking Point" was based on the Ernest Hemingway novel's "To Have and Have Not". A movie with that title, in 1944, was generally thought to be the film version of the book, but William Faulkner -who disliked Hemingway- wrote an original script, keeping only the title and the name of the lead character.

Humphrey Bogart as Harry Morgan and Lauren Bacall as Marie 'Slim' in "To Have and Have Not" (1944) directed by Howard Hawks

It was the movie that introduced Lauren Bacall to both the screen and Humphrey Bogart. Our film was, in fact, a very faithful version of the novel. Hemingway glanced up and winked at me. "I write goddamned good books, you know!" I knew he liked me. He told me he thought 'The Breaking Point' was the best film made from any of his books.

I played a loose woman who is mixed up with gun runners and John Garfield, whom I lure away from his wife, played by the delicious Phyillis Thaxter. In the end John goes back to Phyllis and I get what I deserve. My last lines in the film still give me a kick: 'I guess I sould have swam back to port. Or is it swum?'

John Garfield always projected a strong male animal quality in his films. It was not an act. He had an eye for the ladies and did not waste time. 'I want to talk to you', he commanded when we met. 'You know, you're a whore?' I looked at him aghast. 'In the picture I mean. You are all whore'. He took my hand and smiled ever so slightly. 'You know what I mean? You understand me?' I understood exactly what he meant. -"As I Am: An Autobiography" by Patricia Neal

John Garfield played Hemingway's hero Harry Morgan in "The Breaking Point" (1950)

"Patricia Neal displays her smarts and sensitivity. In Michael Curtiz’s 'The Breaking Point' (1950), opposite the great John Garfield, Neal gives my favorite of her performances, as a high-class whore. She is not only slinky, bad-girl fun in the part, but she gives this familiar “tramp” type a penetrating depth and humanity. Plus, her chemistry with Garfield is electric". Source: screensaversmovies.com

'Touch of Evil' and Redemptive Dames

2011-12-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

Kristen Dunst in "Touch Of Evil" videoclip from The New York Times, December 2012

A video gallery of cinematic villainy, inspired by nefarious icons and featuring the best performers from the year in film. Source: www.nytimes.com

Marlene Dietrich as Tanya in "Touch of Evil" (1958) directed by Orson Welles

"Perhaps the most extreme variation on the redemptive femme fatale, however, occurs at the end of the film noir cycle in 'Touch of Evil'. When corrupt police chief Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) is pursued by UN narcotics agent Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston), he finds temporary refuge in a brothel that he used to visit regularly.

There, Marlene Dietrich's madame — like the good woman of earlier noir films — represents for Quinlan an idealized and unattainable past. Tanya has all of the surface characteristics of a mysterious spider woman: long, dark hair, earrings, a foreign accent, heavy makeup, and an ever-present cigarette trailing smoke that obscures the jaded expression on her face. Yet, as each of Quinlan's friends abandons him, Tanya alone remains true to Quinlan and at least for a moment - helps him escape both from Vargas and from his own self-created demons. The film implies that she loved him, and indeed she is the only person who appreciates the tragedy of his fall and seems moved by his death. In contrast to Dietrich's redemptive prostitute,

Suzy Vargas (Janet Leigh) embraces her traditional role within the status quo family.

But in this film, as in Pitfall, D.O.A., The Big Heat, and Kiss Me Deadly, the traditional woman has become a source of danger, vulnerability, and restraint rather than redemption. Source: www.lib.berkeley.edu

Quinlan: Come on, read my future for me.
Tanya: You haven't got any.
Quinlan: Hmm? What do you mean?
Tanya: Your future's all used up.
– "Touch of Evil" (1958)

John Garfield, Janet Leigh, Gene Kelly and Joseph Cotten in a photo issued as publicity for the 'Hollywood Players' radio show (1947)

John Garfield and Shelley Winters in "He Ran All The Way" (1951) directed by John Berry

Norman Lloyd plays John Garfield's partner in crime in "He Ran All The Way" (1951). Lloyd worked with Orson Welles and John Houseman and later with Hitchcock. He was twice nominated for an Emmy and his film credits include "Saboteur" (1942) and "Spellbound" (1945). John Berry, "He Ran All The Way"´s director, got his start working with Orson Welles and John Houseman and was active in the late 40s. Shortly before making this film he made "Hollywood 10" (1950) about the persecution of actors and directors by HUAC, and this earned him a place on the blacklist and virtually ended his career in the US.

John Garfield entertains a USO show at the Hollywood Canteen

"All he (John Garfield) cared about was acting and dames." -Actor Dane Clark

President Roosevelt invited John Garfield back to the White House early in 1944 to thank him for his efforts in support of the country's war drive, from his bond-raising tours to the formation of the Hollywood Canteen. Though the meeting lasted for less than a halfhour, Garfield was honored. "There I was, a kid from the Bronx, meeting with the President," he later recalled. "That's democracy -that's wonderful." The State Department had cleared the way for a USO Tour of North Africa and Italy. Garfield signed on to emcee the tour, which included comedian Eddie Foy Jr., dancer Sheila Rogers, accordionist Olga Klein, and actress Jean Darling. The group called themselves the USO Camp Show Troupers.

John Garfield and Phyllis Thaxter in "The Breaking Point" (1950) directed by Michael Curtiz

Garfield's willingness to join the tour was due to more than just patriotism. He still had that need to prove himself; the same need that stoked his desire for women. The tour was scheduled to depart New York in February 1944.

Jake Gyllenhaal leaves his longtime manager Evelyn O'Neill

2011-12-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

Jake Gyllenhaal out with a friend in Beverly Hills, on 3rd December 2011

EXCLUSIVE: Management 360′s Evelyn O’Neill tells me it’s a “very amicable parting” and she hopes he comes back since she and Jake Gyllenhaal go back such a long time — 8 years. “Sometimes people like change in their life. I think he’s amazing, I’m very proud of the work he did together, he was nominated for an Oscar, I want him back, and the door is always open. It is what it is.” I understand Gyllenhaal is not leaving for another manager and he’s not leaving his talent agency CAA. I have a feeling this may be the start of a trend as the movie biz is so muddled with the box office slump that stars who can’t put people in theater seats will see projects falling apart one after another. Rough sledding for the rep business. Source: www.deadline.com

Robert Rossen: 'Body & Soul' (John Garfield) , 'The Hustler' (Paul Newman)

2011-12-07T03:26:00.000-08:00

John Garfield is said to have been the first student of "The Method" to succeed in Hollywood, and in so doing changed the face not just of American acting, but the standard of film acting as well. Garfield was more than just an actor who played defiant rebels from the wrong side of the tracks. His natural style brought the internal rhythms and emotions of a character to the fore. While Edward G. Robinson and Paul Muni had played the first tier of such characters on screen (and have been rightly heralded as two of the greatest American actors of all time),

John Garfield's interpretation of the same sort of anti-heroes could break through sans expressionistic lighting and sound and was cloaked in a sexual energy that neither Robinson nor Muni had.

Gene Kelly with John Garfield (two echt Hollywood heartthrobs)

Garfield got a part in the Broadway production of 'Lost Boy' (1932), and was first credited as Jules Garfield. He then appeared in 1932's 'Counsellor-at-Law' in Chicago. He became a member of the Group Theatre in 1934 and is legendary for his stage portrayals. He rose to prominence in 1935 based on his work in two Clifford Odets plays, 'Waiting for Lefty' and 'Awake and Sing!', both directed for the Group Theatre by Harold Clurman.

While playing the role of Henry Suskind in 'Counsellor-at-Law' in Chicago, Garfield found out that the local chorus girls and bit players were competing to see who could get him into bed first. One of them finally succeeded, pulling him into a spare bedroom during a cast party. It may have been his first time, but he was smart enough to use a contraceptive. (His wife Robbe recalled having been provided with one of the Margaret Sanger diaphragms when they made love for the first time.) He was just past 19 years old, and as with acting, Garfield was a quick study when it came to the opposite sex.

And also as with acting, he got hooked. He may not have seen his one-night stand as being unfaithful to Robbe, for the two hadn't officially consummated their affair. Sex was something he was good at, and it reassured him that he had talent. That was something no one could take away from him.

John Garfield as Joe Morse and Beatrice Pearson as Doris Lowry in "Force of Evil" (1948) directed by Abraham Polonsky

"Doris, too, is nearly destroyed by the darkness of business, the desire for the "ruby". Newcomer Beatrice Pearson plays her character in a naive, ingenue way, and represents the force of evil within us all. As a young worker at Leo's bank, she denies her own guilt in the shady business, but when quick-talking Garfield accuses her of being in on a "Policy" racket that takes nickels from hard-working folks who should be paying their weekly insurance premiums, she quits. Morse's words make her realize the truth, but she gets too comfortable in her easy transition to knowledge, and assumes, through the power of quitting, that she understands more than she does. He later asks her out, buys her flowers and offers her a metaphorical "ruby." She finally accepts his attractive wickedness and tries to work from within it, being neither naive or judgmental. At the night club, she confesses her redemptive love, "Oh, Joe, I don't want this [ruby]. Nobody wants it. I want to somehow to get you, Joe, to save you for yourself and myself. Somehow you're wild and crazy and stuck in a trap and somehow you won't fight to get out," she pauses, grabbing his face, the repetition of "somehow" suggesting the chaotic randomness of their love. "And somehow I love you." She kisses him and helps move the tarnished hero towards grace". Source: www.imagesjournal.com

"In 'Body and Soul', John Garfield stars as the young boxer Charley and Lilli Palmer plays his love interest Peg Born. At a celebration dinner, he meets and dances with Peg and falls for her right away. As his need for cash increases his morals decrease. He gets involved with the gold-digging Alice at the expense of his relationship with Peg.

German actress Lilli Palmer was cast as the boxer's lover, Peg (the "soul" of the title).

Newcomer Hazel Brooks was the "body". Brooks, a model from Cape Town, was the wife of Body and Soul's art director Cedric Gibbons. Brooks wanted to wear a light colored sweater to show off her ample bosom. Rossen ordered her to wear a black sweater.

"A black sweater doesn't bring out your bosom", Brooks told the press. "Why wear one? I told the jerks to make it light gray." One of the "jerks," Rossen, tried to explain to Brooks that not all men were interested in looking at her breasts. "I didn't think we were appealing to that group", she responded.

John Garfield as Mickey Borden and Priscilla Lane as Ann Lemp in "Four Wives" (1939) directed by Michael Curtiz.

Garfield gets to inject a little Mickey Borden into the proceedings when he says to Lilli Palmer, "You think I like standin' around waiting for the world to decide what to do with me?"

Polonsky's transitions are a bit abrupt, and Garfield is asked to work extra hard as an actor to make those transitions successfully work.

Lilli Palmer and John Garfield in "Body & Soul" (1947) directed by Robert Rossen

To his credit, he does make them work as he moves from it 20-something kid to a disillusioned middle-aged man in the course of about 30 minutes of screen time.

"Body and Soul" is the only film to allow Garfield's screen character to mature over the course of ten years (though none of the other actors seem to age a day). He plays a weak, amoral character, a surprisingly unsympathetic man who is roused out of his slumber not by pride or morals or love but by an unexpected blow to the head. Garfield claimed to understand Charley Davis well. "I didn't have to do much probing into Charley's life and aims," he wrote in 'Opportunity: Journal of Negro Lift', magazine. "It was all too clear to me because my own boyhood had been so similar." -"He Ran All The Way: The Life of John Garfield" (2004), by Robert Nott

Piper Laurie and Paul Newman as Sarah Packard and Eddie Felson in "The Hustler" (1961) directed by Robert Rossen

“Then we twisted it, didn’t we, Bert? Of course, maybe that doesn’t stick in your throat, ‘cause you spit it out just the way you spit out everything else. But it sticks in mine. I loved her, Bert. I traded her in on a pool game. But that wouldn’t mean anything to you because who did you ever care about. ‘Just win,’ ‘Win!’ you said, ‘win, that’s the important thing.’ You don’t know what winning is, Bert. You’re a loser. ‘Cause you’re dead inside and ya can’t live unless you make everything dead around ya! Too high, Bert - the price is too high.

If I take it, she never lived. She never died. And we both know that’s not true, Bert, don’t we, huh? She lived, she died. Boy, you better, you tell your boys they better kill me, Bert. They better go all the way with me, but if they just bust me up, I’ll put all those pieces back together again, then so help me, so help me God, Bert, I’m gonna come back here and I’m gonna kill you.” —Fast Eddie, The Hustler (1961).

"In 'The Hustler', Robert Rossen tried to grapple with some of John Garfield's story, the texture of failure and success, all the peculiar twists of talent, and the kind of vulturous deadness that attaches itself to talent, eats it alive. This is a different Newman, not an acting mask. He's lithe. And the laziness is gone. He's not a beautiful sleepwalker. He's full of danger now. Perhaps it's Eddie's own deep flaw, his need to wound himself, that touched Newman, opened up his wounds. 'The Hustler' was almost a companion film for 'Body & Soul' and has the courage to investigate cowardliness and those dark corners of the psyche where few American directors had gone before. It's a film about human dirt". -"Movieland: Hollywood and the Great American Dream Culture" by Jerome Charyn (1996)

Marlon Brando's Ultimate Hustle: "A Streetcar Name Desire" by Elia Kazan

2011-12-07T02:47:00.000-08:00

Jessica Tandy & Marlon Brando-A Streetcar Named Desire (Radio Version): Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" wins the Drama Critics' Award and Elia Kazan and Irene Selznick accept.

The original Broadway cast (Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Jessica Tandy) performs. When the curtains closed on the play's first night on Broadway, on December 3, 1947, the crowd shared a moment of stunned silence, then burst into applause that lasted a full 30 minutes.

With Jessica Tandy under Kazan’s direction, Blanche became a symbol of a dying tradition, and we welcome Stanley’s hostilities.

With Clurman as director, Uta Hagen made Blanche the victim of Stanley’s destructive society, Hagen’s Blanche under Clurman’s direction left audiences feeling they had watched a delicate woman driven insane by a brutish environment epitomized by Stanley Kowalski. Tandy’s Blanche under Kazan’s direction left audiences feeling that a madwoman had entered an alien world and after shaking that world had been successfully exorcised.

"Williams said from that apartment he could hear that rattletrap streetcar named Desire running along Royal," Kenneth Holditch says, "and one named Cemeteries running along Canal. And it seemed to him the ideal metaphor for the human condition."

Jessica Tandy photographed on 24th April, 1949, as Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire".

That metaphor finds its expression within the play in the character of Blanche DuBois -- originally played by Jessica Tandy -- a fragile southern belle who visits her sister Stella, played by Kim Hunter

The starting point for most studies on symbolism in Streetcar is the play’s epigraph, taken from Hart Crane’s last great poem, “The Broken Tower”: "I entered the broken world to trace the visionary company of love". Antithetical to these studies is Deborah Burks’s "Treatment Is Everything: The Creation and Casting of Blanche and Stanley" which focuses mainly on the development not of Blanche but of Stanley.

Burks says that during the play’s preparation for the Broadway stage, Williams did not know how Stanley was to function in opposition to Blanche. Burks reprints Williams’s 29 August 1947 letter to Audrey Wood where he praises the discovery of Marlon Brando. In Brando’s reading for the part, Williams found what had been lacking all along in his vision of Stanley —humanism. Williams articulates this newly discovered balance thus, “I don’t want to focus guilt or blame on any one character but to have it a tragedy of misunderstanding and insensitivity to others”.

This first school of critics who argue that 'Streetcar' is a social drama of naturalistic determinism and Blanche and Stanley cultural or human nature types may seem often at either ends of a philosophical continuum. Indeed, scholars cannot seem to agree if Williams is interpreting Strindberg, Chekhov, Nietzsche, or Darwin. But all have the common denominator that 'Streetcar' is essentially a social drama with its characters representing some philosophical or political credo.

The second school, who views 'Streetcar' as a sociodramatic study of victimology, eschews this philosophical base, stressing instead that Blanche and Stanley are unique individuals and we are witnessing a private battle between them. Unfortunately, this school, too, cannot agree upon what it is that we are in fact witnessing. The neutral party finds Williams unbiased, supplying us simply with a study of Lawrentian blood knowledge or the Eros/Thanatos life/death drive. Therefore, several studies, including a book-length one by Norman Fedder, have focused on the Lawrentian elements in Williams’s plays.

It is not surprising, then, to find several references to the Blanche-Stanley conflict as Williams’s study of the Eros/Thanatos instinct made famous in Lawrence’s fiction. And while Jack von Dornum sees Stanley as “D.H. Lawrence’s natural man”, Robert Brustein perceives Stanley as the Lawrence hero “whose sexuality, though violent, is unmental, unspiritual, and, therefore, in some way free from taint.” Brustein also sees the conflict between Stanley and Blanche as an allegory of the struggle between “effeminate culture and masculine libido.”

But it is Christopher Bigsby in “Tennessee Williams: Streetcar to Glory” and Arthur Ganz in “The Desperate Morality of the Plays of Tennessee Williams” who offers the most cogent analyses along these lines: Bigsby, in discussing Williams’s Promethean Man in characters like John Buchanan and Stanley Kowalski, both of whom survive at the expense of the delicate, romantic people; and Ganz, in tracing the “neo-Lawrentian” elements in Williams’s plays prior to 1962. Bigsby argues that of all of Williams’s earlier plays which preach “the Lawrentian sermon on the dominance of the physical over the spiritual”, it is not until 'Streetcar' that Williams “managed fully to digest his Lawrentian lessons and incorporate them into his own perception of an American caught in transition from genteel sterility to brutal indifference”.

Philip Kolin, a professor of English and author of several books on Streetcar, puts the magnitude of the play in perspective. "People have said that Williams absolutely invented the idea of desire for the 20th century," he says. "It was a play that dealt with for the very first time on the American stage, female sexuality and male sexuality."

From his private director’s notebook, published for the first time in 1976, Kazan informs us as to where his sympathies lay. Although he identifies with Blanche’s plight, his support is with Stanley.

In his Stanislavskian reading of Streetcar, looking for the “spine” of each character, he concludes that Stanley’s “spine” is to keep things his way, that he must fight off the destructive intrusions of Blanche who “would wreck his home,” Blanche is dangerous. She is destructive. She would soon have him and Stella fighting. He’s got things the way he wants them around there and he does not want them upset by a phony, corrupt, sick, destructive woman.

Kazan’s direction heavily favored making Stanley the victim of Blanche’s onslaughts against his name, his heritage, his masculinity, and ultimately his family. It was not until Harold Clurman took over as director of the road version of the play that a shift to Blanche as victim took place, a shift which would inaugurate the timeless debate over Streetcar’s meaning.

Vivien Leigh (Blanche DuBois) lunches with Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski) and Kim Hunter (Stella Kowalski).

The opposition between Blanche and Stanley is not between cultural types, but between human types. Thus, whereas one side argues that Williams is creating a Blakean chiaroscuro as embodied in Nietzsche’s Apollonian/Dionysian personality types, the other side finds in 'Streetcar' the simple display of Darwinian natural selection which Tennessee Williams himself emphasizes. In his 'Birth of Tragedy', Nietzsche describes an archetypal struggle between restraint (Apollonian) and passion (Dionysian). In his analysis of 'Streetcar', subtitled “Nietzsche Descending”, Joseph Riddel asserts that Williams borrowed from Nietzsche “in great chunks, often undigested”. The Apollonian figure is characterized by restraint and order, the Dionysian by passion and metaphysics.

Riddel points out that Blanche is Apollonian and Stanley Dionysian, but the reason 'Streetcar' fails is because Williams misinterpreted Nietzsche. By suggesting that Dionysian behavior often dominates the Apollonian, Nietzsche did not mean that passion defeats restraint, as Williams thought, but that order moves inevitably toward chaos. Joseph Riddel is not the only critic to make the Nietzschean connection. Judith J. Thompson describes 'Streetcar'’s mythos as a “dramatic agon” between Stanley (Dionysus) and Blanche (Pentheus), based on Euripides’ 'The Bacchae'.

Britton J. Harwood in his “Tragedy as Habit: A Streetcar Named Desire” also finds the Apollonian/Dionysian dialectic in the Blanche-Stanley conflict, but Harwood sees the struggle better described in Rudolf Otto’s terminology: Self versus Other. Harwood sees the crux of 'Streetcar' as a code of loyalty both upheld and betrayed. -"CRITICISM ON A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE - A Bibliographic Survey" (1947-2003) by JOHN S. BAK

Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler in "The Wild One" (1953) directed by Laslo Benedek

"An actor is at most a poet and at least an entertainer". -Marlon Brando

"If you want something from an audience, you give blood to their fantasies. It's the ultimate hustle". -Marlon Brando