Agree about Mitchell Leisen and Remember the Night. Another Sturges/Leisen film is playing as well at the Film Forum this month, Easy Living with Jean Arthur, can’t remember having seen it.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 11:12 (one year ago) link
As part of https://filmforum.org/series/written-directed-by-preston-sturges
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 11:17 (one year ago) link
Maybe I should go see some of the Written Bys, like The Good Fairy and Beggars of Life.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 11:20 (one year ago) link
Anyway, Remember the Night always feels like a real find, although I sometimes get it confused with that other skewed Xmas movie discovery that is even less frequently seen, Robert Siodmak’s Christmas Holiday with Gene Kelly and Deanna Durbin.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 11:27 (one year ago) link
So weird that everyone seems to be stumbling upon Remember the Night all of the sudden! I only just saw it last year and don't remember ever hearing anything about it before. Fantastic film, though. As is Easy Living (if for almost entirely different reasons).
― Beautiful Bean Footage Fetishist (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 12:28 (one year ago) link
I saw it years ago, enjoyed it but had only a vague, um, memory of it, then saw it on TCM last month as part of a Stanwyck Christmas double bill along with you-know-what.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 12:50 (one year ago) link
Getting more and more into her, if I can handle John Wayne and Mitchum being shitty republicans I can handle her being so, too.
This at least helps:
During filming of To Please a Lady, Stanwyck refused to leave her African-American maid Harriet Coray in a hotel only for African-American people and insisted that she share the same colored hotel as her. After much pressure from Stanwyck, Coray was allowed to stay in the best hotel in Indianapolis along with Stanwyck and the rest of the crew and cast.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 16:56 (one year ago) link
Ahem. Some pellicular pedantry if you will. Her maid spelled her first name with two t's, Harriett.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 17:14 (one year ago) link
Was she actually a "shitty" republican? I don't think it makes much sense to care about party affiliation in the 40s/50s; no shortage of shitty democrats back then too. To state the obvious, Alfred's story is one reason she might have been an R ("party of Lincoln" etc).
On the subject of Liesen, I watched Hold Back the Dawn recently and it's excellent. As with Remember/Sturges (which is wonderful, yes) it reflects poorly on Wilder that it was some kind of breaking point for him. I seem to remember thinking Midnight was slightly better than Easy Living, but I also can't quite separate them in my memory and they're both pretty delightful.
― rob, Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:32 (one year ago) link
Midnight is much better than Easy Living, but I've a pretty strong anti-Arthur bias.
Stanwyck was pretty popular in Hollywood with cast and crew alike; her bio has dozens of anecdotes of her on-set kindnesses and her lack of ego (Sirk and Wilder have said she would sit by herself with the script, knowing everyone else's lines).
As for her politics, well:
She became an early member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) after its founding in 1944. The mission of this group was to "combat ... subversive methods [used in the industry] to undermine and change the American way of life."[92][93] It opposed both communist and fascist influences in Hollywood. She publicly supported the investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and her husband Robert Taylor testified as a friendly witness.[
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:35 (one year ago) link
otoh here's Sirk (re-posted from the Stanwyck thread):
Unfortunately I couldn't give her any great parts in those days. I did see All I Desire again. And you know there is nothing, NOTHING the least bit phony about her ever. Because she isn't capable of it. That insignificant little part she did with me and she played it all right out of herself. And yet she is so discreet -- she gets every point, every nuance without hitting on anything too heavily. And there is such a tragic stillness about her at the same time. She never steps out of it and she never puts it on, this deep melancholy in her presence...
...But that was a rare thing. She impressed me all the time as someone -- what can I say? -- someone who had really been touched by life in some way. Because she had depth as a person. I wish I could have done a really great picture with her...
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link
I read a biography a few decades ago that talked about Preston Sturges' mother being involved with Alesiter Crowley. Think it must have been a Preston Sturges one I read in Dublin. Just sticks in my mind from way back when think they were engaged or something.Think I need to watch a few of his films cos it's been a while.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:39 (one year ago) link
Ah right, I think I did at one point know about the HUAC-y stuff. Oh well, she's pretty handily one of my favorite actors of all time, so I choose not to care. Plus her career/filmography is an enduring political (feminist) force itself. Compared to your Waynes and Mitchums, it's hard to see Stanwyck-the-star as anything other than progressive on balance, imo. Way off topic now, but I saw her in Fuller's Forty Guns recently and that is such a blast plus and a sincerely remarkable role.
― rob, Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:52 (one year ago) link
Need to watch that properly. Was just thinking that the relationship with the brother may mirror her relationship with her own brother.
― A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 3 January 2023 18:55 (one year ago) link
All good, but Capra?
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 15 January 2023 16:06 (one year ago) link
https://filmforum.org/series/written-directed-by-preston-sturgesJan 20 to Feb 2https://filmforum.org/do-not-enter-or-modify-or-erase/client-uploads/FF_Sturges_Series_flyer_v7.pdf
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:59 (one year ago) link
Yup
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 18:59 (one year ago) link
Quite pleased that on our group chat a student admitted she'd watched among other "old Hollywood films" The Palm Beach Story this weekend.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 January 2023 19:10 (one year ago) link
What’s buzzin’, cousins?
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 19:25 (one year ago) link
Can never unread what I read about Rudy Vallée in Dark City Dames.
― The Gate of Angels Laundromat (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 16 January 2023 19:27 (one year ago) link
Say, what’s the big idea, anyway?Kismet!
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 February 2023 23:44 (one year ago) link
You shouldn’t be giving away a real kolinsky.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 03:26 (one year ago) link
With a little corruption from you, the curfew shall not rang next week.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 03:38 (one year ago) link
This is the last cheese in the trap.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 03:45 (one year ago) link
Now kiss each other goodbye and get back to your offices!
― Hongro Hongro Hippies (Myonga Vön Bontee), Sunday, 5 February 2023 04:45 (one year ago) link
Why? I’ll tell you why. I don’t beat around the back door just to come down in the coal chutes!
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 12:15 (one year ago) link
Now starting to regret that I missed my chance to see The Good Fairy at The Film Forum.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 12:16 (one year ago) link
Take the young lady up to the Imperial Soots!
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 13:26 (one year ago) link
The storm and strifes, she just give me a buzz
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 13:39 (one year ago) link
This time the goose is geesed or vice-versa.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 14:17 (one year ago) link
If I could get a word in edgeways around here, with one of my unimportant quibbles, we’ll get somewhere!
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 14:21 (one year ago) link
Play excuse the live-blogging. I liked that a lot more than Morbius, I guess.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 14:31 (one year ago) link
Here is his take: S/D, POX: Screwball comedies
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 15:25 (one year ago) link
Also reposting a link he provided to an overview of a Leisen retro: http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/design-for-living-20081023
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 15:27 (one year ago) link
There's a ton of info hidden on the TCM website that can't be found anywere else but you have to click through a bit to find it, such as in these notes: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/73851/easy-living#notes
Leisen cast Esther Dale as the secretary because she looked just like Eleanor Broder (apparently his assistant); and the phone gag was based on Broder, who used to get the several telephones on her desk mixed up. Broder, quoted in the modern source, states that Arthur was "terribly concerned" with the way she looked, and Leisen personally directed all her wardrobe and hair tests and styled her hair himself, with the belief that if an actress is satisfield with the way she looks on the screen, she will devote all of her attention to her acting.
― And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:13 (one year ago) link
caught four of these at the recently-concluded Film Forum series: Unfaithfully Yours, Morgan's Creek, Lady Eve, and Palm Beach Story. Had a good time at all, would rank them descending in that order. UF had me DYING, what a beautiful balance of verbal, observational and slapstick laughs, with the slapstick mostly pushed to the end so you're REALLY on board for seeing this guy taken down every possible peg.
Palm Beach Story was still packed with good line deliveries, but, cryptosicko otm upthread: the train sequence is bad.
― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:28 (one year ago) link
(as always, nothing like great comedy in a theater. also for three of the four, i went with my pal who knew and really loved the films since way back, so it felt extra fun.)
― got it in the blood, the kid's a pelican (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:30 (one year ago) link
So then wouldn't The Lady Eve rank above Morgan's Creek?
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 February 2023 16:33 (one year ago) link
Woulda gone to some of those with you DC!
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Monday, 6 February 2023 06:47 (one year ago) link
i don't know what to say to people who don't like the train sequence in Palm Beach Story--if you don't love a bunch of drunken hunting assholes singing at the top of their lungs and driving their hunting dogs through the train waking people up, not to mention the shotgun shooting inside the meal car. . . . I mean that's like peak movie watching. Just astounding
― a (waterface), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:29 (one year ago) link
It goes on for a bit and the cutaways to the google-eyed Black waiter are a bit much (and I know the latter was standard for its time). I don't hate it, though. I like the shot of the uncoupled train receding while the drunken fools keeps shouting and shooting.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:54 (one year ago) link
was watching the Lady Eve over the weekend and he just has set pieces in the middle of films just for a laff. . . like when Eugene Pallette is hungry for his breakfast. . . there's like 4 or 5 little bits just to get to the part when he's banging the lids together. hilarious
― a (waterface), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:56 (one year ago) link
No one played patrician exasperation better than hardcore conservative Pallette.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:58 (one year ago) link
you can see the steam coming out of his ears
― a (waterface), Monday, 6 February 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
"Standard for its time" sure but I do think Sturges is amongst the auteurs least shy about having these comedy black characters; don't see as many of them in Hawks and Wilder. Which doesn't necc mean he was worse - erasure is as insulting as caricature, at least he got some black actors paid - but yeah, more uncomfortable moments for sure.
Xposts
― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 6 February 2023 13:59 (one year ago) link
Should I buy Stuart Klawans’s book, I wonder.
― Huey “Piano” Smithers-Jones (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:06 (one year ago) link
Spending money stimulates the economy and creates JOBS!
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:07 (one year ago) link
What Would the Weenie King Do?
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 03:08 (one year ago) link
I’m generally not a fan of screwball comedy, but I tried The Palm Beach Story since it’s leaving Criterion, and enjoyed most of it. But man, that scene with simultaneous firearms, piano pounding and dogs barking is everything I dislike about the genre, confusing loud and frantic for funny.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 04:18 (one year ago) link
Finally watched EASY LIVING for the first time a few weeks ago, hadn’t even realized it was leaving until yesterday. Maybe y’all saw me live blogging it up thread. Both Preston Sturges and Billy Wilder and no doubt Andrew Sarris as well badmouthed Mitchell Leisen so much I used to steer clear of him but he has several classics under his belt, minor or otherwise.
― Wile E. Galore (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 28 February 2023 07:31 (one year ago) link