Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  This is one of two Christmas movies I ordered, both featuring Barbara Stanwyck, both filmed in the 1940's (this one in 1940, the other in 1945). My route to obtaining both of these Christmas movies didn't start even close to my destination. Last week I noticed, upon receiving Die Hard, that my Christmas collection of movies is paltry. This didn't surprise me. I'm not a fan of just any old Christmas or Holiday movie. As you can see, if you check out the list attached to the "Christmas" label, back there, I've even gotten rid of two Christmas movies since my mother's death (both of which she loved) that I just couldn't stand. I'm very discerning when it comes to holiday movies, so much so that if the cover of the case even looks like a TV Christmas production, I shake my head and turn away.
    But, I wanted to enrich my Christmas collection, this year. For some reason, which I doubt I'll plumb, I'm in the mood for Christmas movies this year. This isn't the first time it's happened, but it is pretty rare. So, I went on a hunt for a couple more, having had such luck with Die Hard. The search was increasingly dismal. I almost gave up. Then, I stumbled across these two Barbara Stanwyck movies [the other is Christmas in Connecticut]. I looked up information on them and thought, yeah! That's what I'm looking for! So I ordered both. Now, I'm looking forward to a Christmas movie session this year, and it'll start tomorrow night.
    The Christmas movies I've collected (and kept), though, are dear to my heart. I can't imagine going through "the season" without watching all of them every year between a bit before Christmas up to New Years. I even like every single one of them enough so that it's not unusual to watch any one of them throughout the year during the "off-holiday season" (which is, of course, the entire rest of the year excepting the Christmas season). And, by the way, don't even mention Thanksgiving movies. Not having any, thank you.
    Stay tuned for more, later, when I actually watch these two movies.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Barbara Stanwyck	Lee Leander	Fred MacMurray	John Sargent	Beulah Bondi	Mrs. Sargent	Elizabeth Patterson	Aunt Emma
  Willard Robertson	Francis X. O'Leary	Sterling Holloway	Willie Simms	Charles Waldron	NY Judge	Paul Guilfoyle	NY DA

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1940
    Directed by Preston Sturges.

Labels: §, barbara-stanwyck, beulah-bondi, Christmas, dramaE

# posted by gail @ 16:45    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1* *2*
• 
  Commentary:  I think I've said quite a lot about our reactions to this movie throughout the main journal. We both find it entertaining and "feel good" inspirational.
    There are a lot of movies, including many from this film's era, previous, post, and all the way through to now, that focus on populist vs. elitist politics. None of them, though, has yet approached the pointedness, pertinence and perceptiveness of this all time classic. I'll bet it will never, ever, not be a popular classic, because, at least in the United States, its story will always be contemporary.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  James Stewart	Jefferson Smith	Jean Arthur	Clarissa Saunders	Claude Rains	Joseph Harrison Paine	Edward Arnold	Jim Taylor
  Thomas Mitchell	Diz Moore	Beulah Bondi	Ma Smith	Astrid Allwyn	Susan Paine	Ruth Donnelly	Mrs. Hopper

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1939
    Directed by Frank Capra.

Labels: anti-fascist, beulah-bondi, claude-rains, dramedy2, frank-capra, james-stewart, political5, romance4, shared-favorite, thomas-mitchell

# posted by gail @ 15:35    0 comments    email......this post

1. Who's watched:  M & G, many times and off-season
2. Mentions:  *1*
3. 
   Commentary:  This movie turned me into a Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra fan. It used to irritate Mom, though, because it is so believably dark (which is what I love about it...by the time Jimmy Stewart is hanging over the bridge, you're thinking, yep, that's the only way). Now, she focuses on Donna Reed and Beulah Bondi.
     I remember reading somewhere that this is the only Capra movie in which the monster does not receive his comeupance. And, Lionel Barrymore is a superb monster in this movie.
     Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his "Great Movies". The review is the one linked to the title of this post.
   Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
     

   Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
   James Stewart	George Bailey	Donna Reed	Mary Hatch Bailey	Lionel Barrymore	Mr. Potter	Thomas Mitchell	Uncle Billy
   Henry Travers	Clarence	Beulah Bondi	Mrs. Bailey	Frank Faylen	Ernie	Ward Bond	Bert
   Gloria Grahame	Violet	H. B. Warner	Mr. Gower	Frank Albertson	Sam Wainwright	Bill Edmunds	Mr. Martini

   
     Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
     Release Date: 1946
     Directed by Frank Capra.

Labels: beulah-bondi, Christmas, dramaC, frank-capra, james-stewart, shared-favorite, thomas-mitchell

# posted by gail @ 15:23    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I first saw this movie the Thanksgiving after my mother died. I was preparing to travel down to the Phoenix metroplex to share a late afternoon Thanksgiving dinner with one of my sisters' families. I awoke early, was ready to go within an hour and looking for something to do until I felt it optimal to leave for the drive down to The Valley. I switched on TCM and up came this movie. I'd never heard of it, but the title intrigued me.
    What a film! Despite it having been released in 1937, it addressed a situation so common, today, that the movie industry continues to release a new take on "what-to-do-about-the-elderly" once every couple of years, or so. As a society, here in the U.S., we never get tired of fearing the aging of our parents, and then, our own aging ... and we still don't have it figured out. Every time I watch this movie, I think of a scene out of another movie (which I can't place, at the moment, I don't think I own it), an animated feature, possibly Brother Bear, but I'm not sure, I should rent that movie from the library and see, in which a young character's grandmother features in a short segment, gathering flowers in a forest and explaining the joys of being old. It's a laudable portrayal, but not really true of aging in our society (or some other societies). This movie is true. And depressing. As hell.
    Upshot is, I was so impressed with this movie I attempted to talk about it during my Thanksgiving visit. My sister was having none of it. Which kind of proves my point.
    With this movie, I'm instituting a new label category, "aging". I'm surprised it didn't exist before this. I guess I share the same psychological malady of having trouble contemplating aging with the rest of my society. Now I'm curious: How many more movies do I own to which this label could apply? Probably not many, which, yet again, underscores my point.
    Roger Ebert christened this movie as a "Great Movie", linked to the title of this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Victor Moore	Pa Cooper	Beulah Bondi	Ma Cooper	Fay Bainter	Anita Cooper	Thomas Mitchell	George Cooper
  Porter Hall	Harvey Chase	Barbara Read	Rhoda Cooper	Maurice Moscovitch	Max Rubens	Elisabeth Risdon	Cora Payne
  Minna Gombel	Nellie Chase	Ray Meyer	Robert Cooper	Ralph Remley	Bill Payne	Louise Beavers	Mamie

  
    For the curious, here's the Wikipedia write-up about this film.
    Release Date: 1937
    Directed by Leo McCarey.

Labels: aging, beulah-bondi, Criterion1, drama3, louise-beavers, psychological1, spiritual1, thomas-mitchell, tragedy1

# posted by gail @ 08:05    0 comments    email......this post