Western RoundUp: Western Film Book Library – Part 8

Western Film Book Library – Part 8

It’s been just about a year since my last column on books on the Western movie genre, so it’s time for a look at some more interesting books in my collection!

The books featured in this post range from one of the earliest books in my collection to recently published titles.

I’ll start with an “oldie but goodie,” Shoot-Em-Ups by Les Adams and Buck Rainey.

Shoot Em Ups

Shoot-Em-Ups was published by Arlington House in 1978. It’s a large, heavy hardcover which clocks in at 633 pages.

For those of us who became classic film fans in the pre-IMDb era, this kind of book is how we looked up movie casts! In between the credits listings are interesting, educational chapters on the history of Westerns. Books like this one helped spur my interest in Westerns; as I read and enjoyed the photographs, I’d make lists of movies I hoped to see one day.

Shoot Em Ups 2
Shoot Em Ups 3

Singing Cowboy Stars is a delightful little volume by Robert W. Phillips. It was published by Gibbs Smith in 1994.

Singing Cowboy Stars

The book reviews 25 Westerns stars in 95 glossy pages. The book covers some of the expected stars, such as Tex Ritter, Ray Whitley, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Dick Foran, and Eddie Dean; it also makes room for John Wayne and his “Singin’ Sandy” days at Monogram.

Best of all, there’s even a 10-song CD in the back of the book!

Singing Cowboy Stars A
Singing Cowboy Stars B

Women in the Films of John Ford was written by David Meuel for McFarland Books, published in 2014. Meuel is also the author of The Noir Western which I recommended in a book column a few years back.

The book covers female characters in a variety of Ford films in its 196 pages; naturally, many of them appear in Westerns, including Stagecoach (1939), Rio Grande (1950), and The Searchers (1956), to name a few. Meuel offers detailed analyses of both characters and performances. It’s an enjoyable read for those who love Ford films and also serves as an interesting introduction for those who are newer to his movies.

Women In the Films of John Ford

Another McFarland book on this list is The Films of Budd Boetticher by Robert Nott, who also wrote a book on Randolph Scott featured here last year. The Boetticher book is 192 pages and was published in 2018. Like the Ford book, not every film covered is a Western, but there are many to be found within its pages.

Nott discusses each film’s production history and reception, as well as offering his own critical analysis. The book also has a nice selection of black and white photos. This well-written book is engaging and informative.

Films of Budd Boetticher

The next pair of books, Cowboy Movie Posters and More Cowboy Movie Posters, were found by a good friend at a Canadian antique mart and sent to me as a gift. Needless to say, I was delighted!

Western Posters

The books were published by Bruce Hershenson in 1994 and 1998, respectively; they’re part of a larger series of books from the founder of a poster sales website. The images are beautifully reproduced on glossy pages, with brief accompanying text written by Brian Cook. A visual treat for Western fans!

Western Posters 1
Western Posters 2

The final book featured this month is The John Wayne B-Westerns 1932-1939, written by James L. Neibaur and published by Bear Manor Media.

John Wayne B Westerns 1

This 268-page book is a must for Wayne fans, as it traces the evolution of Wayne’s career throughout the 1930s. The author provides detailed information on each of Wayne’s “B” films while also conveying their significance to his overall career.

Wayne had charisma from the outset, but it’s fascinating tracking his growing ability to command the camera; as I noted in a full-length review at my personal blog last year, “It’s almost paradoxical, but as Wayne learned to be more subtle and reactive, he simultaneously became more interesting to watch.” And beyond Wayne himself, many of the films described by Neibaur are simply fun viewing.

For many more ideas on Western film reading, please visit my lists from July 2019November 2019May 2020January 2021July 2021August 2022, and May 2023.

Thanks to James L. Neibaur and Bear Manor Media for providing a review copy of The John Wayne B-Westerns.

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns.  She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals.  Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.

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Silents are Golden: Silent Superstars: The “It” Girl Clara Bow

Silent Superstars: The “It” Girl Clara Bow

Clara Bow
Clara Bow, the ‘It’ Girl

When novelist, screenwriter, and supreme arbiter of taste Elinor Glyn declared in 1927 that Clara Bow had “It”–her term for a rare type of magnetism–the public must have heartily agreed. After all, the beautiful, vivacious young woman with the big brown eyes and mop of curly red hair was one of the brightest stars on the silver screen, lauded by many as the “quintessential” flapper. Indeed, Glyn didn’t simply say Bow had “It,” but endorsed her as the official “‘It’ Girl.” It’s a title that the sparkling actress has retained to this day.

Bow’s fame was especially remarkable when we consider that she was, to a point, self-motivated. Were it not for her love of the movies and decision to take the wildest of chances, she might never have been discovered by a fan magazine “Fame and Fortune” contest.

Clara Bow 2

Saying that Clara Bow grew up in unfortunate circumstances is an understatement. Her father Robert was a shiftless man often described as “strange,” and her grim mother Sarah suffered from mental illness. The couple lived in a series of shabby New York tenements at a time when they were severely overcrowded and unsanitary. Sarah bore two daughters who both died at birth, and then against all odds had a healthy girl, Clara. What little love the girl received was largely from her grandfather, who doted on her before suddenly passing away from an apoplectic fit.

As a child the tomboyish Bow was largely shunned by the local girls and mocked for her threadbare clothes and tendency to stutter. She found little solace at home, since Robert could be violent and Sarah’s mental illness was steadily worsening. In time Sarah began suffering from seizures, with usually only young Bowand to try and help her. Once she woke up to see a crazed Sarah standing over her with a butcher knife. She would suffer from insomnia for the rest of her life.

Clara Bow 3

But there was one comfort Bow had: the movies. They were a true escape from her troubled home life, offering visions of beauty, romance and adventure. She began to have dreams of appearing on that wonderful screen herself. An avid reader of fan magazines, she came across Motion Picture Magazine’s announcement of the 1921 “Fame and Fortune” contest looking for screen talent. All it required was to send in a portrait with the entry coupon fastened to the back. She conspired with her father to have a couple cheap portraits taken at a Coney Island studio. Since the office accepting the entries was in Brooklyn she took the streetcar to deliver hers in person. After a number of weeks, several screen tests, and a gradual dwindling of contestants, the winner was declared: Clara Bow.

It was a surreal moment of triumph for Bow, who had taken all the screen tests wearing the single dress she owned. Despite the win she still had to hustle to actually get a film role, finally getting a small part in Beyond the Rainbow (1922). Her first lead was–fittingly–as a tomboy in the whaling picture Down to the Sea in Ships (1922). As small roles kept coming her way, Sarah suddenly died from epilepsy-induced heart failure. Troubled though their relationship was, it was another traumatic event for the sensitive Bow.

Clara Bow 4

In 1923 Bow arrived in Hollywood itself and soon nabbed the sort of role that would define her career: a “flapper type” in Black Oxen (1923). It was a supporting role, but critics praised her nonetheless. Determined to continue “making good,” she would appear in 8 films in 1924 and an incredible 15 films in 1925. The hit film The Plastic Age (1925) sealed her outgoing, warm-hearted flapper image for once and for all. Clara Bow, Brooklyn-accented girl of the tenements, was finally one of Hollywood’s glamorous stars.

Clara Bow 5

In general Bow’s screen characters were working girls, unabashedly flirty and quick to stick up for the bullied or to give a lecherous man a sock on the jaw. Some of her notable appearances were in Dancing Mothers (1926), Mantrap (1926) and the epic World War I picture Wings (1927) costarring Buddy Rogers and Richard Arlen. Her hit feature It (1927), costarring Antonio Moreno, happily capitalized on Elinor Glyn’s “‘It’ Girl” endorsement.

Clara Bow It

Warmly outgoing and eager to please, Bow was popular at the studios, although her informal nature made her an outsider at the fancy dinners and parties thrown by Hollywood’s elite. Her personal life gave plenty of fodder to the papers as she flitted from boyfriend to boyfriend, appearing in divorce court more than once as the “other woman.” As time passed, she was starting to be regarded as unstable.

Clara Bow 6

The talkies presented even more challenges as Bow struggled with “mike fright,” especially during the shoot of Kick In (1931) where she fled from the set. This stress was compounded tenfold when a tabloid published a fabricated “expose” accusing her of everything from wild promiscuity to bestiality. The ugly attack triggered a nervous breakdown, and Bow’s boyfriend Rex Bell insisted that she recuperate for a time at his Mojave desert ranch.

During this much-needed rest, the couple were married. After a successful return to Hollywood in Call Her Savage (1932) and Hoopla (1933), Bow decided to retire from the screen for good. She and Rex would raise two sons, Tony and George, and try to live a comparatively peaceful life on their ranch.

Clara Bow and family - Rex Bell and sons Tony and George
Clara, Rex and two sons Tony and George

Unfortunately, Bow wasn’t quite destined to live happily ever after. Perhaps inevitably due to her family history, she began to be plagued with mental problems. In the 1940s she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and in 1950 she had to live separately from her family under a nurse’s constant care. Her final years were spent in Culver City and she would pass away from a heart attack in 1965 at age 60. While her legacy has been obscured throughout the years with ugly rumors and falsehoods about her personal life, more recent research has mercifully set many records straight. And happily her shining talent still lives on in her films, revealing her to be one of Hollywood’s most exceptional stars.

Clara Bow 7

–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

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Noir Nook: Five Things I Love About New York Confidential (1955)

Five Things I Love About New York Confidential (1955)

I can’t recall how or when I first came across New York Confidential (1955), but I clearly remember being sucked into the film from practically the opening scene and counting it among my noir favorites by the last.

Directed by Russell Rouse, the film centers on Charlie Lupo (Broderick Crawford), the hard-nosed head of a New York crime syndicate; his loyal and efficient enforcer, Nick Magellan (Richard Conte); and his beautiful daughter, Kathy (Anne Bancroft), whose life is a misery because of the way her father makes a living. Others in the Lupo sphere include his right-hand man, Ben Dagajanian (J. Carroll Naish), who exists primarily as Charlie’s combination sounding board and nerve soother; his fretful mother (Celia Lovsky); his high-society girlfriend, Iris Palmer (Marilyn Maxwell), whose roving eye lands on Nick; and Arnie Wendler (the always great Mike Mazurki), a member of Charlie’s crew who ultimately has his own  best interests at heart.

New York Confidential Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford

The plot stirs this divergent cast of characters into an action-packed stew that depicts the struggle of the high-powered syndicate leaders to maintain the status quo, and the circumstances that converge to bring it to them to their proverbial knees. This month’s Noir Nook serves up five reasons why I love this first-rate feature. (Incidentally, it’s currently available for free on several streaming platforms, including YouTube and Tubi.)

  • The film is narrated by a distinctive baritone voice that makes you sit up a little straighter in your chair – you have the feeling that matters of consequence are being imparted. The narration comes courtesy of Marvin Miller, who I know from his performance as the luckless sidekick of Morris Carnovsky in Dead Reckoning (1947), but his voice is familiar, too. He did tons of voice work during his lengthy career, starting with his first screen gig, a 1944 short called Hell-Bent for Election, and including such films as Forbidden Planet (1964), where he voiced Robby the Robot; children’s shows like The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl; and, perhaps most notably, the long-running TV series, The F.B.I. In addition, Miller was the star of The Millionaire, a CBS-TV series where he played the executive secretary to a mysterious billionaire and dispensed a check for a million dollars at the start of each episode.
New York Confidential Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft
Richard Conte and Anne Bancroft
  • Little touches are sprinkled throughout the film that humanize the otherwise ruthless gangsters. Charlie Lupo and Ben Dagajanian were certainly no pushovers when it came to the crime game, but in a couple of their scenes together, they manage to make the viewer briefly forget that they are killers at heart. In the first scene, after discussing a recent hit gone wrong, Ben shares photos of his grandchildren with Charlie. “Hey, these are wonderful,” Charlie says admiringly. “This young one – spitting image of you, Ben. Believe me, spitting image.”  And later, we learn that Charlie has digestive ailments when he downs a dish that “tastes like something you put wallpaper on with.” He watches with envy as Ben washes down his hefty meal with a cold beer and grouses, “What I wouldn’t give for a salami on rye and a kosher pickle.”
New York Confidential Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
  • The scene where Nick receives an English lesson from Kathy Lupo. After Nick admonishes her regarding an argument she’d had with her father, Kathy informs Nick that he has “a penchant for interfering in other people’s affairs.” Puzzled, Nick repeats, “Penchant?” And Kathy explains, “Penchant means a strong inclination towards. And I’d appreciate it hereafter if you’d mind your own business.”  Minutes later, when Charlie shares with Nick his plans to buy him a new wardrobe, Nick expresses his appreciation and adds with confidence that he has “a penchant for nice things.”
New York Confidential Marilyn Maxwell
Marilyn Maxwell
  • Richard Conte’s performance. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I could happily watch Richard Conte read names out of the phone book for an hour. And his portrayal of Nick Magellan (I even love his character’s name!) did nothing to dissuade me from this stance. He frequently plays ice-cold dudes in his films, but Nick might just be the ice-coldest. In just one example of Nick’s persona, late in the film, he is attacked by a couple of hoods as he enters his apartment. In the next scene, the two men are in an office, congratulating themselves over the beating they gave Nick, and one crows, “He might have been a pretty boy once. I wonder what he looks like now.” A split second after this braggadocious musing, the office door flies open and Nick is standing in the doorway, gun drawn. He slowly, deliberately walks into the room, then says, “Take a good look.”
  • The film’s end. I’m not going to spoil the movie for you but let me just say that the ending is absolute perfection. The last few minutes build to a crescendo that will leave you on the edge of your seat, and Marvin Miller’s narrator gets the last word, telling us, “The circle of self-destruction has claimed new victims. It has stilled the lips that might have revealed the secrets of the syndicate. . . . The syndicate still exists. The rules still hold. This is how the cartel works. This is New York Confidential.”

You gotta love it! I sure do.

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:

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Classic Conversations: TCM’s Genevieve McGillicuddy Previews This Week’s 15th Classic Film Festival


I am counting the seconds until this Thursday when TCM’s Classic Film Festival begins in Hollywood.  The annual festival is sheer nirvana for classic movie fans. Over the years we’ve gotten to see so many amazing movies and people at the four-day festival. The list of special guests who have regaled us with firsthand accounts of making our favorite movies includes Angela Lansbury, Kirk Douglas, Jane Powell, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Maureen O’Hara, Debbie Reynolds, Liza Minnelli, Tony Curtis, Pam Grier, Faye Dunaway, Kim Novak, Luise Rainer, Dustin Hoffman, Sophia Loren, Mickey Rooney, Nancy Kwan, Warren Beatty, Tippi Hedren, Burt Reynolds, Leslie Caron, and so many others including directors Stanley Donen, Martin Scorsese, and William Friedkin. Fans come from all over the world to attend this spectacular event which this year begins with a special screening of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction with stars John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and Samuel L. Jackson in attendance. As I furiously work on my schedule (many of the presentations run concurrently at different theaters so festivalgoers have to make some really tough choices), I talked to festival director Genevieve McGillicuddy to see what she is most excited about.

Danny Miller: Genevieve, it’s so good to talk to you! I’ve been to every festival since they began in 2010 and for a moment we were very worried that there wouldn’t be one this year. I don’t mind telling you that after all the corporate layoffs last year, I burst into tears when it was announced that you and Charlie Tabesh were being brought back to produce this year’s festival! 

Genevieve McGillucuddy: Oh my goodness, thanks for sharing that, that’s so sweet!

I’m sure you’re well aware of how much this festival means to so many people around the country and the world. I’m part of the very active Going to the TCM Classic Film Festival group on Facebook and we obsess about it all year long and have a big gathering at the festival. Was this intense level of interest surprising to you in the beginning?

You know, on one hand we, we truly built the festival with the goal of bringing together the community of TCM fans that was always at our core. But I remember that we started planning that first festival about 18 months out since we were creating everything from the ground up. And I will tell you that at that first festival, I think it was the day before we opened and people started showing up and they were wearing their passes, and the Roosevelt lobby started filling up with fans who had flown in — for me it was a sort of “pinch me” moment. I thought, “Oh my gosh, this is real, it’s really happening, everyone’s here!” We just didn’t know what to expect and we could not have been more pleased.

Chatting with Robert Osborne at the 2010 festival

I remember so well at the end of that festival when Robert Osborne got up on the stage at the Chinese and announced that there would be another festival the following year to a huge whoop of cheers from the audience. I get a lump in my throat just thinking about it because we had no idea if it would just be a one-off. 

It was pretty dramatic for us as well! Going into the festival, we just didn’t know, and we talked during the festival about whether Robert should announce it at the end. That decision was made and it was such a dramatic punctuation to all of the amazing activities of that first year!

Those early years brought so many amazing guests who made those movies and who are sadly no longer with us. I remember interviewing Robert before one of the first festivals and he was still holding out hope that he’d get his friend Olivia de Havilland to come. I assume your strategy for getting special guests has had to change over the years, given the passage of time.

Yeah, you know, sometimes we have pursued people for years, even a decade before they’ve been able to come, we’re always putting out feelers. Our talent bookers work so hard!

Are there certain people you’ve always been hoping to get to come to the festival?

The first one I can think of on my personal list is Julie Christie, I’ve always wanted her to come, she’s amazing but it just hasn’t worked out yet.

Next year! I know another person Robert Osborne always wanted to bring to the festival was Doris Day when she was still with us. Can you imagine the ovations she would have received from our crowd?

Oh, definitely. And it’s true that it’s getting more challenging to find people who were in some of the older films.

Which is why I’m so glad you’re bringing back people like the wonderful Cora Sue Collins, who worked with Garbo as a child, as you know, and is introducing The Sin of Nora Moran this year which she made in 1933! The actress Barbara Rush, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 97, was a good friend of my wife’s family, and a close friend of Robert Osborne’s, and it was so wonderful seeing her get the attention and enthusiasm she deserved at several festivals. She was very grateful for it.

Barbara Rush and Robert Osborne

She was lovely. I remember meeting her on the red carpet in 2010, and she made a point of speaking with me about what Robert had told her about the work that I had done. She could not have been more gracious and was just beautiful woman in every sense of the word. But you’re right, it’s been so special to bring in people and see the wonderful way our audiences welcome them. One that pops into my mind is Diana Serra Cary. 

Baby Peggy, I was there that day!

Yes, the last major silent film star at that point. Her interview was phenomenal, she was just incredible. In terms of our overall strategy, it hasn’t really changed that dramatically. We’ve always considered major anniversaries of films which often overlap with big restorations we’re able to premiere. And when there’s no longer anyone around who actually worked on the film, we sometimes bring well-known fans of the films. One example this year is Jeff Daniels who’s going to appear with Dog Day Afternoon because, when he first saw that film it had a direct impact on his decision to become an actor. 

I always enjoy the celebrities you get to introduce films, people like Keith Carradine, Kate Flannery, Bill Hader, and Dana Delany who I think are all coming back this year. 

Yes, it really echoes the strategy on the network of guest programmers, people who come in and talk about their favorite films, how a particular film may have impacted the work that they do in various ways, it’s a nice extension of that. 

I also enjoy when you bring the children or grandchildren of the stars or directors in to talk about their family members, like the daughters of Cary Grant, Fred MacMurray, Boris Karloff, and so on. I think that’s really meaningful for people and hope you do more of that! What are some of the films you’re most excited about this year?

It’s really an embarrassment of riches this year in terms of the guests and the variety of the films that we’re showing. I think that this is definitely a very special year since we’re marking both the 15th anniversary of the festival and the 30th for the network. One screening that I’m personally very excited about is the U.S. premiere of Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger. I got a sneak peek at that documentary a few weeks ago. I’m a huge fan of their work and I definitely learned a lot that I didn’t know. The documentary is really Martin Scorsese taking the viewer through how those filmmakers impacted him, but also why they’re important. It’s a combination of a master class of Scorsese talking about these filmmakers, but also a lot of information about the two men that I really haven’t been exposed to before, so that’s a real treat.

I love the Powell and Pressburger films so much and have loved when the festival shows them. 

On Friday, we have an incredible lineup at the TCL Chinese Theater from Jodie Foster appearing with the The Silence of the Lambs, which dovetails nicely into this year’s Crime and Justice theme, to Steven Spielberg presenting the director’s cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to David Fincher presenting a world premiere restoration in IMAX of SE7EN. 

Fantastic. I always love the special presentations, like this year’s Vitaphone shorts that will be seen for the first time in 90 years. 

Yes, we’re collaborating with the Warner Brothers engineering department for that. They’ve build a special custom turntable to be able to play the original records with the 35mm prints of these vaudeville shorts, that’s going to be a very rare treat, something that you will probably only see at our festival.

I’m also excited about the nitrate prints which are increasingly rare to see.

Yes, speaking of past technologies and being able to see prints the way they were seen by audiences when they came out! The nitrate Technicolor print of Annie Get Your Gun will be eye-popping, I’m sure. We’re also showing a brand new restoration of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest which is always an audience favorite. That’s going to be presented by Nancy Meyers who we’re very excited to have with us.

Eva Marie Saint introducing North by Northwest at a past festival

One of Hitchcock’s best, I remember seeing it introduced by Eva Marie Saint at the festival.

We have our annual Robert Osborne Award being given to pioneering author and historian Jeanine Basinger at a screening of one of my favorite westerns, Westward the Women. And also Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins with The Shawshank Redemption.

You’re not kidding with the embarrassment of riches!

I know! On Sunday, I’m very excited about the presentation of Double Indemnity at the TCL Chinese Theater, because that’s a film you don’t often get to see in the theater of that size. Last year I watched Casablanca in that auditorium, and it was such a phenomenal experience even though, like many people, I have seen that movie dozens of times.

Same!

It’s just so different watching it on a screen of that size in that theater with a big crowd, and I think Double Indemnity will be the same thing. Then we’ve got two-70 millimeter prints at the Egyptian, Lawrence of Arabia, starring one of my all-time favorite festival guests, Peter O’Toole, followed by a world premiere restoration of The Searchers in 70-millimiter, presented by director Alexander Payne. And Mel Brooks is coming to the festival for the seventh time with Spaceballs which will be a lot of fun, and that’s opposite  the 100th anniversary screening of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. with a live musical score played by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Yeah, that’s one of my most tortured time slots! In terms of some of the “newer” films, I hear a lot of buzz among my TCM friends about Diane Lane appearing at the screening of A Little Romance, and the cast reunion for the 1994 Gillian Armstrong version of Little Women. I’m also excited about seeing the original That’s Entertainment since that was my gateway drug to classic movies when I was a kid.

Definitely. For me, I used to watch Channel 38 in Boston with my Dad. That had a big effect on me as did watching Three Stooges shorts on Sunday mornings. 

Did you have certain favorite stars as a kid? 

Oh, that’s always hard. I guess I’d say Fredric March, Cary Grant, obviously, and I was a huge fan of Barbara Stanwyck and Bette Davis. 

The best! I’m looking forward to seeing Bette in The Little Foxes this year. 

It’s funny, because we can watch most of these films at home, but it’s just not the same of watching them with big audiences in these magnificent theaters, there’s just nothing like it.

There really isn’t. Ugh, I thought I was all set on my schedule, Genevieve, but everything you’ve said has made me re-evaluate every choice. Now I’m in agony again, thanks a lot!

(Laughs.) That’s part of the fun. See you at the festival!

The 15th TCM Classic Film Festival runs from April 18 to April 21 in Hollywood. Click here for the schedule. You need a pass for the event but individual tickets are available for most films if there is any space available in the theater after the passholders are seated. 

…..

–Danny Miller for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Danny’s Classic Conversation Articles Here

Danny Miller is a freelance writer, book editor, and co-author of  About Face: The Life and Times of Dottie Ponedel, Make-up Artist to the Stars

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Monsters and Matinees: Sun Block can’t Help The Hideous Sun Demon

Sun Block can’t Help The Hideous Sun Demon

The Hideous Sun Demon is a fantastic film title.

It screams Beware! Danger! Turn back!

I’m hideous and I’m a demon!

It’s such a robust title, that it deserves an exclamation point in the hallowed tradition of Them! Dinosaurus! Scooby Doo: Where Are You! The Hideous Sun Demon!

How great is it? An Australian band took the title as its name without seeing the movie.

And let’s give the 1958 sci-fi B-movie props for being way ahead of its time as a cautionary tale about the dangers of too much sun. (Always wear your sunscreen.)

Sadly, we must admit, The Hideous Sun Demon doesn’t hold up to the promise of its title and that’s clear from the first minute.

An accident with radioactive isotopes makes the sun deadly to a scientist played by Robert Clarke in The Hideous Sun Demon. Clarke also wrote, directed and produced the film.

The film opens in mid-sentence, so to speak, with action already in play and without a set-up or introduction to the characters. An alarm is going off at Atomic Research Inc. as a person is wheeled out on a stretcher into an ambulance.

Who? Why? We don’t know.

Then a dramatic blast of music and a square image colored in dark shades with a big white circle in the middle appears. The credits roll, proclaiming The Hideous Sun Demon.

The names of the cast and crew follow, but they sit stationary for a few seconds on that same, unmoving square until another set of names appear … on that same unmoving square, and so it goes.

The high-tech opening credits feature the same backdrop.

Though the sound is effective with that blaring music augmented by an ambulance siren, that darn square with the white circle is a clear indication of the (lack of) quality of what’s to come.

Don’t judge yourself harshly if this no-budget opening credit sequence is where you think that our much-anticipated Hideous Sun Demon is going to be a guy in a mask wearing gloves that imitate animal hands. You are right, but if you’re like me, you accept it as a necessary element in low-budget B-movies.

The plot? It’s thin. A voiceover tells us that no sooner had “satellites numbers 1 and 3” gone into space than the world is worrying about the dangers of radiation from the sun. (That’s all the background we get.)

Poor Dr. Gilbert “Gil” McKenna (played by Robert Clarke, who also directed, wrote and produced the film) is proof of why people should be worried. He’s the guy on the stretcher, a researcher who is the first victim of this danger from radioactive isotopes which are often blamed for bad things in 1950s sci-fi films.

In this fun shot, the sun that is superimposed over the face of Dr. Gil McKenna (played by Robert Clarke), will transform him into the title creature in The Hideous Sun Demon.

He was exposed to radiation for nearly 6 minutes and should be dead, but he’s not and that puzzles the doctors. In fact, he appears better than OK, looking handsome right down to the curls that slightly hang over his forehead where they stay for much of the film. Kept in the hospital for observation, he’s allowed time in the solarium, which is an elegant way of saying he sits on the roof in the sun with old people. (No, really, he sits on the roof with old people.)

It only takes a few minutes before he looks uncomfortable and sweats so profusely that he opens his robe and bares his chest as the sun beats down. The elderly lady sitting next to him screams “Oh your face!” and he runs off. Then more screaming! What’s wrong?

The explanation comes in one of those obligatory mumbo-jumbo scenes that I love where the scientists try to explain what’s going on. In the case of poor Gil, the sun exposure has caused him to regress – or evolve backwards – to the form humans were in prehistoric times. He has become scaly and lizard-like – half-man, half-lizard. A return to a dark room out of the sun brings him back to his normal attractive exterior, but each exposure to the sun will cause this “sun sensitivity” to occur faster and last longer.

A tough guy makes the mistake of forcing Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) into the sun which turns him into The Hideous Sun Demon.

Now Dr. Gil isn’t left to deal with this alone. He has support from his colleagues including lab assistant Ann (Patricia Manning), a plain but pretty woman who is clearly in (unrequited) love with him. Compassionate scientist Dr. Buckell (Patrick Whyte) cares, too, but warns Ann about Gil’s hard drinking which he believes led to the radioactive incident.

“Whiskey and soda mix, not whiskey and science,” Dr. Buckell says.

Yes, booze is a problem for Gil who has a wild side that also includes women and fast cars. Plus he’s impatient and selfish. As his friends search for help from other scientists, all Gil must do is stay inside at least during the day. But no. He leaves at night, driving for hours in his small sports convertible with the top down, pushing the limits and playing games with the sun. But it’s hard to judge him when his inner anguish comes out as he stands on cliff ready to commit suicide. (The sounds of laughing children stop him. Sad.)

Despite advice to stay inside and out of the sun’s rays, Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) can’t avoid the temptation of drink and women in The Hideous Sun Demon.

He meets sexy young Trudy (Nan Peterson) at a bar where she sings and plays piano. They make goo-goo eyes at each other, have a drink and make more goo-goo eyes.  Her gangster-like boyfriend shows up and, of course, they’ll fight over her (not for the last time either).

Gil and Trudy head to the beach where the sun peeks out from behind the clouds as they frolic on the sand, enjoy some hanky-panky and fall asleep until the sun rises. Gil, ever the gentleman, runs off in his convertible – still with the top down – as the sun bares down on him.

A little girl and her doll try to help a desperate Dr. Gil McKenna (Robert Clarke) not realizing he’s the monster everyone is searching for in The Hideous Sun Demon.

He’s in beast form by the time he arrives home, and things spiral out of control. The police go on a beast hunt, people lock themselves inside and his smart friends still try to help. On the run, Gil hides out in a shed on a large oil field where a child playing with her doll befriends him and offers to get him cookies. Mom will want to know who those cookies are for.

In a well-done and taut ending sequence, a chase sequence through the oil fields and up those large, circular natural gas tanks goes to dizzying heights. We can see the actors climbing the ladders and going higher and higher with the ground clear below. Clarke reportedly did his own stunts and it pays off as we watch Gil/the Hideous Sun Demon sadly racing closer to the sun.

The final sequence in The Hideous Sun Demon takes place from the dizzying heights of natural gas tank. That’s actor Robert Clarke doing his own stunts.

Making a monster movie

There are reasons to respect Hideous Sun Demon even though it wears its low budget on its monster mask and doesn’t live up to the awesome title.

Before this film, Robert Clarke had a long journeyman’s acting career with roles in such movies as Enchanted Cottage (1945) and My Man Godfrey (1957), plus a long resume of TV work on Perry Mason, Murder, She Wrote, General Hospital, 77 Sunset Strip and Dynasty. He is best known for his work in genre films like The Man From Planet X (1951), The Incredible Petrified World (1957) and Beyond the Time Barrier (1960). It was the success of the 1957 film The Astonishing She-Monster that led Clarke to direct his own low-budget film, hence The Hideous Sun Demon.

Outside of acting, Clarke was a first-time everything on The Hideous Sun Demon and it was a big undertaking.  By the end, he would be among three directors and four writers who put the film together. It was shot over 12 consecutive weekends using a crew of film students from the University of Southern California. Friends and relatives filled the cast. The original budget of $10,000 “ballooned” up to $50,000 but they kept things tight. The cast did their own hair, makeup and wardrobe. Only $500 was spent on the suit created by Richard Cassarino out of a wet suit.

Clark’s original idea was inspired by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and was different from his finished film. It was set in Guatemala where a scientist experiments with radiation on his son, who transforms into a reptile-like creature with sun exposure. The original title was “Saurus” or “Sauros” which means reptile in Latin and is a better description for the film, but not as cool of a title as The Hideous Sun Demon.

Nan Peterson made her film debut in The Hideous Sun Demon with Robert Clarke.

Notes

A film debut: It was the first film for Nan Peterson, who stars as singer Trudy in the film. Originally cast in the role was Clarke’s sister-in-law Marilyn King of the popular vocal group The King Sisters. She had to drop out of the role but wrote the song “Strange Pursuit” that is performed in the movie. There is even mention in the film on the radio of The King Sisters.

Film legacy: Robert Clarke gave his permission for the 1989 comedy What’s Up, Hideous Sun Demon that was redubbed with the voices of Jay Leno and Cam Clarke who reprised his father’s role. The unauthorized 1965 short film Wrath of the Sun Demon was a two-minute short produced by Donald F. Glut and starring Bob Burns, an archivist who owns the original mask.

 Toni Ruberto for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Toni’s Monsters and Matinees articles here.

Toni Ruberto, born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., is an editor and writer at The Buffalo News. She shares her love for classic movies in her blog, Watching Forever and is a writer and board member of the Classic Movie Blog Association. Toni was the president of the former Buffalo chapter of TCM Backlot and now leads the offshoot group, Buffalo Classic Movie Buffs. She is proud to have put Buffalo and its glorious old movie palaces in the spotlight as the inaugural winner of the TCM in Your Hometown contest. You can find Toni on Twitter at @toniruberto.

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Silver Screen Standards: The Ghost Goes West (1935)

Silver Screen Standards: The Ghost Goes West (1935)

Supernatural romance and comedy are unique but often overlapping subgenres with some truly outstanding movies among their ranks, from Topper (1937), Blithe Spirit (1945), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) to the more recent blockbuster, Ghost (1990). I love a good ghost story, whether it’s spooky or silly, so of course I find The Ghost Goes West (1935) thoroughly delightful. It’s a fairly modest British production from producer Alexander Korda and French director René Clair, but its tremendous charm and engaging cast help explain why this ghostly romantic comedy was such a huge hit with British audiences in 1935. Aside from its supernatural elements, The Ghost Goes West also offers some sharp and very funny commentary about the way Americans – especially wealthy ones – view and consume other cultures; most viewers, however, will come for the engaging fairy tale romance as enacted by Robert Donat and Jean Parker.

Ghost Goes Robert Donat Dual Role
Robert Donat plays the dual roles of Scottish ghost Murdoch Glourie and his identical descendant, Donald Glourie.

Donat plays a dual role as both the titular ghost, Murdoch Glourie, and his identical descendant, Donald Glourie, neither of whom has helped the family’s fortunes over the centuries. The impoverished Donald is forced to sell his haunted ancestral castle to a rich American businessman, Mr. Martin (Eugene Pallette), who promptly disassembles the home and has it reconstructed in Florida, unwittingly taking the ghost along, too. Ghost mania erupts when Murdoch makes an appearance on the transatlantic voyage, but Murdoch also causes trouble for Donald with Martin’s daughter, Peggy (Jean Parker), who assumes that the ghost is really just Donald playing pretend.

Ghost Goes Robert Donat Jean Parker
Both Murdoch and Donald are attracted to Peggy Martin (Jean Parker), who encourages her wealthy father to buy the Glourie family’s castle.

The setup of The Ghost Goes West has a lot in common with The Canterville Ghost (1944), which appeared almost a decade later but is based on an 1887 short story by Oscar Wilde. The 1935 movie is adapted from a short story called “Sir Tristam Goes West” by Eric Keown, and if you’re interested in reading it you’ll find it included in the 2007 anthology, The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories. Given the changes to Wilde’s original story in the 1944 movie, it’s entirely possible that the Charles Laughton vehicle borrowed some of its plot elements from Keown’s story or its 1935 adaptation. In both movies, an angry father curses his disappointing son to haunt the family home until he can prove himself worthy, and then, centuries later, modern Americans show up to force the ghost outside his comfort zone. In The Ghost Goes West, however, the unhappy spirit actually gets transported to America, which offers lots of opportunities for him to affect and be affected by the modern American culture he finds there. Donald also goes along due to his romantic interest in Peggy, and, like his ancestor, Donald finds a lot to complain about in the way Martin and his compatriots treat the castle, the ghost, and Scots heritage. The ticker tape parade, the Venetian gondola, the omnipresent radios hidden in everything, the rival businessmen in their kilts, and the “authentic” Scottish music are all very funny but also underscore general American ignorance and appropriation.

Ghost Goes Robert Donat crates
Poor Murdoch finds himself transported to America along with the disassembled stones of his ancient home.

If the commentary is a bit pointed for American viewers, that medicine goes down better with the sweet romance and comedic performances. The fairy tale quality of the story is enhanced by the use of elaborate miniatures for exterior shots throughout the picture, and the atmosphere of the whole brings to mind the similar qualities of I Know Where I’m Going! (1945), especially because both share an interest in Scottish characters and culture. Robert Donat is, ironically, livelier as the girl crazy Murdoch but more serious about Peggy as Donald, while Jean Parker gives Peggy playful energy in her scenes with both of the Glourie men. It’s great fun to see Donat switch between Murdoch and Donald and even act against himself thanks to the usual split screen technique used for dual roles. Eugene Pallette is perfectly cast as one of his trademark characters, the wealthy but unpolished father, while Ralph Bunker gives Pallette plenty of pushback as Martin’s rival grocer, Mr. Bigelow. If I have a complaint about The Ghost Goes West, it’s the glaring underuse of the fabulous Elsa Lanchester as Miss Shepperton, a character who only appears as a guest at the Florida party and has no apparent purpose. If you want to see more of a performance from Lanchester in a supernatural comedy, you’ll have to move on to Bell, Book and Candle (1958) or Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968).

Ghost Goes Robert Donat Ralph Bunker
Murdoch finally finds a descendant of the hated McLaggen clan in Mr. Martin’s rival, Mr. Bigelow (Ralph Bunker).

René Clair also directed another of my favorite supernatural comedies, the wonderful I Married a Witch (1942). Robert Donat won the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), and you can also see him in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), and The Citadel (!938). Jean Parker plays Beth in the 1933 adaptation of Little Women; she also appears in Beyond Tomorrow (1940), One Body Too Many (1944), and The Gunfighter (1950). Eugene Pallette’s other memorable fathers include those in My Man Godfrey (1936), The Lady Eve (1941), and Heaven Can Wait (1943), but you’ll also find him in the iconic ghost comedy, Topper (1937). For more haunted hijinks, try Haunted Spooks (1920), The Ghost Breakers (1940), 13 Ghosts (1960), and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). More modern ghost comedies include Ghostbusters (1984), High Spirits (1988), Beetlejuice (1988), The Frighteners (1996), and the 2023 Haunted Mansion, but I can’t close without recommending both the British and American versions of the TV series, Ghosts, and the excellent Paramount+ series, School Spirits, if you want more ghostly adventures than a single feature film allows.

— Jennifer Garlen for Classic Movie Hub

Jennifer Garlen pens our monthly Silver Screen Standards column. You can read all of Jennifer’s Silver Screen Standards articles here.

Jennifer is a former college professor with a PhD in English Literature and a lifelong obsession with film. She writes about classic movies at her blog, Virtual Virago, and presents classic film programs for lifetime learning groups and retirement communities. She’s the author of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and its sequel, Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and she is also the co-editor of two books about the works of Jim Henson.

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Classic Movie Travels: Dorothy DeBorba

Classic Movie Travels: Dorothy DeBorba

Dorothy DeBorba
Dorothy DeBorba

Dorothy Adelle DeBorba was born on March 28, 1925, in Los Angeles, California, to Raymond and Lillian DeBorba. Her mother had a background as a singer, dancer, and actress, while her father played the drums in Paul Whiteman’s orchestra. Raymond and Lillian’s relationship was tumultuous, with the couple marrying and divorcing three times in Dorothy’s life.

DeBorba became a beloved child star of Portuguese Azorean descent in Hal Roach’s Our Gang series. She was raised in Livermore, California, and at age five was already a regular on screen. In particular, she impressed Roach with her ability to cry on cue, securing her role as Dorothy “Echo” DeBorba in Our Gang. She made her debut in the series as Jackie Cooper’s sister in Pups is Pups (1930). By 1931, she would essentially replace series regular Mary Ann Jackson.

DeBorba sported trademark curls and large hair bows handmade by her mother. Each evening, DeBorba’s mother brushed and set DeBorba’s hair into curls—a process that took roughly two hours. Despite her composed on-screen persona, DeBorba was a tom-boy off-screen. She especially enjoyed getting messy in Pups is Pups, jumping in the mud and having to be cleaned and redressed over the course of thirty-seven takes.

Dorothy DeBorba Little Rascals
Dorothy DeBorba, The Little Rascals

As three years went by, DeBorba grew and was phased out of the series. Her final Our Gang role was in Mush and Milk (1933). DeBorba made a brief appearance alongside Jean Harlow in Bombshell (1933), which would be her final screen credit as an actress.

DeBorba graduated from Van Nuys High School, later working at Republic Pictures as a secretary. She went on to be a senior clerk at the University of California—Berkeley School of Journalism.

DeBorba married twice. Her first marriage was brief and sadly ended with her as a widow. Her next marriage was to Max Ferdinand Haberreiter, with whom she had two children: Richard and Janet. They settled in Northern California until the marriage ended in divorce.

DeBorba was readily available for interviews regarding her time in Our Gang. She became a member of the Sons of the Desert in 1980 and frequently attended their conventions until her health prevented her from further travel.

She passed away from emphysema on June 2, 2010, at age 85 in Walnut Creek, California. There was no service for her.

Today, there are still some points of interest in connection with DeBorba that exist.

In the 1930s, she lived at 1368 N. St Andrews Pl., Los Angeles, California, with her mother. This home no longer stands. By 1940, they lived at 2708 E. 14th Ave., in Oakland, California. At this point, her mother was working as a florist. The home stands today.

2708 E. 14th Ave., in Oakland, California
2708 E. 14th Ave., Oakland, California

By 1941, DeBorba was attending Van Nuys High School, which also stands.

Van Nuys High School
Van Nuys High School

In 1950, DeBorba lived at 114 Coral Way, Apt. 3, in Redondo Beach, California. She was widowed at this point and working as a salesperson at a five-and-dime store. By 1952, she was married to Haberreiter and residing at 129 N. Pacific Coast Hwy. 1, Redondo Beach, California. Both of these homes have since been razed.

In the 1990s, she lived at 1810 Montecito Circle in Livermore, California.

1810 Montecito Circle in Livermore, California
1810 Montecito Circle, Livermore, California

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.

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Silents are Golden: 7 Remarkable Lillian Gish Films

7 Remarkable Lillian Gish Films

You may have heard about the great actress Lillian Gish, whose film career lasted from the early days of film in the 1910s all the way to her final movie appearance in The Whales of August (1987). But if you haven’t seen much of her work, you might be wondering where to start–especially in regards to her silent era classics. Here’s a list of seven notable silents to help you get acquainted with this exceptional artist.

7. The Mothering Heart (1913)

Lillian Gish the mothering heart


Lillian and her sister Dorothy were teenaged stage actresses when they joined Biograph studio in 1912, back when most films were one or two reels long. Working mainly with director D.W. Griffith, they quickly learned the ropes of film acting and became two of Biograph’s most familiar faces. Dorothy had a knack for comedy while Lillian was drawn to tragic stories, such as the two-reeler The Mothering Heart. Playing a tender-hearted and rather naive young wife who discovers her husband is having an affair, Gish’s sincere performance quickly wins over the viewer. A surprising late scene involving a burst of anger shows her range, even this early on in her film career.

6. Broken Blossoms

lillian gish broken blossoms

Gish is sometimes identified with “tragic waif” types of roles, and there’s no better example than her portrayal of Lucy Burrows in this heartbreaking melodrama. Based on a short story by Thomas Burke, it follows the gentle, idealistic Cheng Huan who leaves China in hopes of spreading Buddhism abroad. He ends up living in a gritty London neighborhood where he encounters Lucy, the angelic and terribly abused daughter of the thuggish boxer Battling Burrows. While the casting of Richard Barthelmess as Cheng seems controversial today, he plays the role with sincerity and dignity. Gish is unforgettable as the persecuted Lucy, delivering a heartrending performance. One claustrophobic scene involving her animal-like reaction to being trapped in a closet would even have echoes in The Shining decades later.

5. True Heart Susie (1919)

lillian gish true heart susie


No film could create a sweet, nostalgic portrait of rural life quite like a silent film, and True Heart Susie is one of the finest examples. Gish plays the shy country girl Susie, who is “sweet on” the neighbor boy William. Dreaming of a bright future with him, Susie decides to secretly help him go to college by selling her beloved cow and allowing him to believe a rich benefactor is lending him a hand. Ah, but what if William eventually falls for someone else? This film radiates a love of youthful “days gone by,” and both it and Gish’s performance are sweetly sentimental without getting too cloying.

4. Way Down East (1920)

lillian gish way down east

One of the box office hits of 1920, Way Down East was the result of Griffith taking a decidedly old-fashioned Victorian play–what folks might call a “hoary old chestnut”–and transforming it to as close to an art piece as anyone could. Lillian played the innocent Anna who’s put through a wringer of tragic events. She’s seduced by a manipulative cad, gets cast aside, deals quietly with the resulting pregnancy, loses the baby, and tries to start over as a hired girl on a farm. For its most iconic sequence, where Anna is collapsed on an ice floe drifting closer and closer to a waterfall, Gish insisted on trailing her hand in the real, icy river for effect, resulting in permanent nerve damage.

3. The White Sister (1923)

lillian gish the white sister

The words “purity” and “spirituality” were certainly associated with Lillian Gish, and this feature was an ideal vehicle to showcase those qualities. Gish plays a prince’s daughter who loses her noble status, and after hearing that her lover was killed during an expedition, she decides to become a nun. While settling into her new life, she’s shocked to learn that her lover is alive. Filmed in Italy, it was the first film Gish appeared in after leaving the Griffith fold (albeit on friendly terms). She was very interested in recreating the Catholic “taking the veil” ceremony, which apparently had never been captured on film before. She worked closely with the clergy to ensure it was conducted with respect and authenticity.

2. The Scarlet Letter (1926)

lillian gish the scarlet letter

Gish’s turn as Hester Prynne gave her one of the few-and-far-between chances to expand beyond her innocent waif roles. Directed by Swedish filmmaker Victor Sjöström and costarring the international star Lars Hansen, this mid-1920s feature is considered one of the most faithful adaptations of Hawthorne’s novel. Gish herself had insisted that MGM adapt The Scarlet Letter, despite their concerns about the subject matter. She proved that she could step gracefully into a “sensual” role while still giving it poignancy and dignity.

1. The Wind (1928)

lillian gish the wind

One of the masterpieces of the late silent era, this dark romantic drama was also Gish’s final silent. Gish plays Letty, a poverty-stricken woman who goes to live on a remote Texas ranch with her cousin and his wife Cora. The area is continually plagued by raging winds, said to drive people mad. Letty clashes with Cora, who’s jealous of her beauty, and she also receives unwanted attention from local men. When Cora finally turns Letty out of the house, she reluctantly agrees to marry the rancher Lige. In the meantime, the ever-present wind begins to drive her towards insanity. Elegantly-directed and featuring a magnificent performance by Gish, The Wind is a must-see for any fan of silent films.

–Lea Stans for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Lea’s Silents are Golden articles here.

Lea Stans is a born-and-raised Minnesotan with a degree in English and an obsessive interest in the silent film era (which she largely blames on Buster Keaton). In addition to blogging about her passion at her site Silent-ology, she is a columnist for the Silent Film Quarterly and has also written for The Keaton Chronicle.

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Noir Noir: Oscar Omission – Barbara Stanwyck

Noir Noir: Oscar Omission – Barbara Stanwyck

It’s about that time again – awards season! My favorite time of year. As I write this, I’m in the midst of my annual quest to see as many Oscar-nominated films and peformances as possible. (Luckily, with streaming, I’m now able to see all of the entries in the major categories!)

In keeping with the Oscar theme, today’s Noir Nook will take a look at an actress who, for my money, is one of the finest performers from the Golden Age of Hollywood – and who never won an Oscar: Barbara Stanwyck.

I know – it makes no sense, right? Not with films like Stella Dallas and Meet John Doe and The Lady Eve under her belt! But, sadly, it’s true. While Stanwyck was nominated for an Academy Award on four occasions, she never won. To the Academy’s credit, she was given an honorary award in 1982 for being “an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress and one of the great ladies of Hollywood”, which beats a blank, I suppose, but still. I think Stanwyck should have at least won one competitive Oscar, if not multiple awards, for several of her noirs. Let’s take a look at four that I believe were worthy of the prize.

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Phyllis Dietrichson: Double Indemnity (1944)

Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Omissions Double Indemnity
Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity

In this feature – my favorite noir, in case I hadn’t mentioned that lately – Stanywyck’s Phyllis teams with insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) to bump off her husband and enjoy a big insurance payday. Like the best laid plans of mice and men, though, this scheme goes to the left, thanks in big part to Walter’s boss, Barton Keys (Edward G. Robinson), who possesses a flawless intuition – in the form of the “little man” inside his gut.

As Phyllis, Stanwyck brings to life one of noir’s iconic femmes fatales – she’s at once sexy, scheming, vulnerable, intelligent, ruthless, duplicitous, and smooth as polished ice. So many of her scenes are standouts, like the one where she feigns innocence while simultaneously trying to get Walter to assist in her quest to do away with Mr. Dietrichson. Or the one where Walter kills her husband in the car seat beside her, and her face is a blank mask until that last moment when she allows a slight, satisfied smile to curve her lips. Or the one in the supermarket where she frostily informs Walter that it’s “straight down the line for both of us.”

…..

Martha Ivers: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Omissions, Strange Love of Martha Ivers (pictured with Kirk Douglas)
Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Here, Stanwyck plays the title role of a woman who, as a child, murdered her hated aunt (Judith Anderson) with a blow from her own cane. (And if that doesn’t give you a clue to Martha’s persona, I don’t know what will.) Martha grew up to run (and expand) the industrial empire she inherited upon her aunt’s death – and to marry Walter O’Neil (Kirk Douglas), the childhood friend who stood beside her (literally and figuratively) during the crime. Martha’s domain is rocked when serendipity brings the return of another pal from her youth, Sam Masterson (Van Heflin), who was also at Martha’s house on the night of her aunt’s death and has visions of blackmail – at least Martha and Walter believe he does.

Stanwyck’s entrance as the adult Martha is revealing – she exits her chauffeur-driven car and sweeps into her house in the midst of a rainstorm. She enters without a drop of water daring to touch her and addresses her butler without granting him so much as a glance.  Stanwyck’s Martha is always in control, always in charge, and usually a little scary; whether she’s browbeating her weak-willed, alcoholic husband, or casting shade in the direction of the down-on-her-luck dame (Lizabeth Scott) who has fallen in love with Sam, she’s always the center of attention. In my favorite scene, she uses her considerable wiles to coax Sam into killing Walter – and Stanwyck serves up a master class in silent acting as she observes the outcome.

…..

Thelma Jordon: The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)

Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Omissions, The File on Thelma Jordon (pictured with Wendell Corey)
Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey in The File on Thelma Jordon

Once again in the title role, Stanwyck plays a woman who kills her wealthy aunt (what is with Stanwyck and aunts?) and is prosecuted for the crime by Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey), the assistant District Attorney with whom she’s been having an affair. Three guesses as to whether Cleve pulls out all the stops to ensure a guilty verdict – and the first two don’t count.

Stanwyck’s Thelma is an interesting character. She’s not hard-boiled like Phyllis Dietrichson, or domineering like Martha Ivers. You can understand why Cleve falls for her – she’s quietly sexy, subtly elegant, sophisticated but not unreachable. Her voice is soft and smoky, she’s easy to talk to and to listen to, especially when she says things like this: “I only know I think of you all day and all night. What I’ll wear so you’ll look at me with that look in your eyes like now. . . . And what I’ll do the next time you take me in your arms.” Incidentally, she’s also an expert liar, which she demonstrates not just with Cleve but with her other lover, Tony (Richard Rober). But that’s a whole ‘nother story. The bottom line is, Stanwyck is several different women in this film – and she plays them each to perfection.

…..

Leona Stevenson: Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

Barbara Stanwyck, Oscar Omission, Sorry, Wrong Number
Barbara Stanwyck as Leona Stevenson in Sorry, Wrong Number

In this feature, based on a 1943 radio play, Stanwyck is spoiled and self-centered heiress Leona Stevenson, whose confinement to her bed due to a heart condition has not diminished her dominance over her weak-willed husband (Burt Lancaster) or her doting father (Ed Begley, Sr.). When crossed telephone wires allow her to overhear two men planning a soon-to-be murder, she tries to learn more about the plot, but discovers more than she’d bargained for.

With the exception of flashbacks, Stanwyck’s Leona spends the bulk of the film in bed, which makes her performance even more impressive. From there, she emotes and emotes and emotes, taking her character from petulance to annoyance, haughtiness to hysteria, and anxiety to terror. After the film’s release, the reviewer for Cue proclaimed that Stanwyck had turned in the best performance of her career. I can’t argue with that.

…..

So, what do you think? Should Stanwyck have earned an Oscar for any of these noirs? And can you think of any other noir performances that deserved Oscar recognition? Leave a comment and let me know!

– Karen Burroughs Hannsberry for Classic Movie Hub

You can read all of Karen’s Noir Nook articles here.

Karen Burroughs Hannsberry is the author of the Shadows and Satin blog, which focuses on movies and performers from the film noir and pre-Code eras, and the editor-in-chief of The Dark Pages, a bimonthly newsletter devoted to all things film noir. Karen is also the author of two books on film noir – Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film and Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir. You can follow Karen on Twitter at @TheDarkPages.
If you’re interested in learning more about Karen’s books, you can read more about them on amazon here:

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Western RoundUp: Final Resting Places, More Western Filmmakers

Final Resting Places: More Western Filmmakers

This month we’ll be taking another of our unique tours through Western film history, paying tribute to a variety of actors as we visit their final resting places.

We begin with longtime “B” Western star Johnny Mack Brown. I was glad to finally locate his final resting place at Forest Lawn Glendale after a couple of unsuccessful attempts. The onetime college football star had a long film career, beginning in silent movies; he appeared in countless “B” films, including many playing characters named either Johnny Mack or Marshal Nevada Jack MacKenzie. Brown also offered excellent support in the Rod Cameron Western Stampede (1949). He’s interred along with his daughter.

Johnny Mack Brown Resting Place
Johnny Mack Brown

Herb Jeffries was a unusual ’30s “B” Western star; of mixed-race heritage, he played a black singing cowboy in a quartet of Westerns released from 1937 to 1939. His movies included interestingly titled films such as Harlem on the Prairie (1937) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939). Jeffries’ film career was fairly short, and he focused mainly on singing from the ’40s on, including a few years performing with Duke Ellington. Jeffries lived to be 100, and his final resting place is at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Herb Jeffries Resting Place
Herb Jeffries

Another singing cowboy, Ken Carson, is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whitter, California. As a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, Carson appeared onscreen frequently in Roy Rogers films from 1943 to 1946. He also voiced the Wise Old Owl in Disney’s lovely So Dear to My Heart (1948). Carson died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 1994. His gravestone features a guitar and references his career as a singing cowboy.

Ken Carson Resting Place
Ken Carson

Oscar-winning actress Donna Reed first appeared in Westerns early in her career, playing the leading lady in “B” films such as Apache Trail (1942) and Gentle Annie (1944). Throughout the ’50s she appeared in a number of good Westerns, including Hangman’s Knot (1952) with Randolph Scott, Gun Fury (1953) with Rock Hudson, and Backlash (1956) opposite Richard Widmark. She then moved on to TV success starring on The Donna Reed Show (1958-66). She’s buried at Westwood Memorial Park.

Donna Reed Resting Place
Donna Reed

Under her birth name Laraine Johnson, Laraine Day was George O’Brien’s leading lady in a trio of his excellent RKO “B” Westerns, released in 1938 and 1939; along with O’Brien’s “B” films with Virginia Vale, these are great favorites of mine. Later in 1939 she moved to MGM, where as Laraine Day she played beloved nurse Mary Lamont in the Dr. Kildare movie series. She made one Western at MGM, The Bad Man (1941) starring Wallace Beery. Thanks to her marriage to baseball manager Leo Durocher, which lasted from 1948 to 1960, Day was also known as “the First Lady of Baseball.” She’s at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Laraine Day Resting Place
Laraine Day

While she didn’t have an extensive career in Westerns, British actress Binnie Barnes was memorable appearing opposite Randolph Scott in one of the very first Westerns I wrote about for Classic Movie Hub, Frontier Marshal (1939). She also starred opposite John Wayne in In Old California (1942). Over the course of her career Barnes worked with actors like Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, but she told an interviewer the best actor she worked with was none other than Wayne. Barnes married the adoptive son of actor Joe E. Brown and is buried in the Brown family plot at Forest Lawn Glendale.

binnie barnes resting place 2 images
Binnie Barnes

Oscar-winning British character actor Donald Crisp, known for films like How Green Was My Valley (1941) and National Velvet (1944), may not spring to mind as a Western actor, but he added his considerable gravitas to a number of fine Westerns, including Ramrod (1947), Whispering Smith (1948), The Man From Laramie (1955), and Saddle the Wind (1958). He’s buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Donald Crisp Resting Place
Donald Crisp

Character actor Jay C. Flippen worked steadily in Westerns throughout the ’50s, appearing in a trio of fine Anthony Mann Westerns, Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), and The Far Country (1954). His other Westerns films included Devil’s Canyon (1953), Man Without a Star (1955), and Night Passage (1957). His wife was movie and TV screenwriter Ruth Brooks Flippen. He’s at Westwood Memorial Park

Jay C Flippen Resting Place
Jay C Flippen

Richard Farnsworth had an interesting career, beginning as a stuntman in 1937. Farnsworth was on the stunt crew for many Westerns, including favorites such as Angel and the Badman (1947) and Red River (1948). Farnsworth later moved into acting, receiving Oscar nominations for Comes a Horseman (1978) and The Straight Story (1999). His son, Diamond Farnsworth, also worked as a movie stuntman. Richard Farnsworth’s final resting place is at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Richard Farnsworth resting place
Richard Farnsworth

We’ll conclude this month with a trio of actors who appeared in movie Westerns but are best known for their TV Westerns. Clayton Moore appeared in numerous supporting roles in “B” Westerns beginning in 1937 and running into the 1950s, but of course he’s best known as TV’s immortal The Lone Ranger (1949-57). He’s buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Clayton Moore Resting Place
Clayton Moore

Chuck Connors appeared occasionally in Western films, including The Hired Gun (1957), before becoming a major Western TV star as The Rifleman (1958-63). His gravestone at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills pays tribute to his most famous Western role, along with his sports careers with the Dodgers, Cubs, and Boston Celtics.

Chuck Connors Resting Place
Chuck Connors

Hugh O’Brian first appeared in movie Westerns in 1950, playing a supporting role in Gene Autry’s Beyond the Purple Hills (1950). He appeared in numerous Westerns throughout the ’50s, many for Universal Pictures, before hitting it big in the title role in TV’s The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-61). He’s at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Hugh OBrian Resting Place
Hugh O’Brian

For additional photos of the burial sites of Western filmmakers, please visit my columns from May 2019February 2022November 2, 2022November 29, 2022April 2023, and November 2023.

– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub

Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns.  She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals.  Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.

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