Thursday, November 24, 2022
Becky Sharp
- Commentary: Under construction.
I'm in the process of watching this movie today, 11/24/22. It may be a bit before I finish it and include a decent write-up. So far it is choked with characters and a little confusing. I find myself constantly rewinding this sentence or that exchange.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Miriam Hopkins Becky Sharp Frances Dee Amelia Sedley Cedric Hardwicke Marquis of Steyne Billie Burke Lady Bareacres Alison Skipworth Miss Crawley Nigel Bruce Joseph Sedley Alan Mowbray Rawdon Crawley G. P. Huntley Jr. George Osborne William Stack Pitt Crawley George Hassell Sir Pitt Crawley William Faversham Duke of Wellington Charles Richman General Tufto Doris Lloyd Duchess of Richmond Colin Tapley William Dobbin Leonard Mudie Tarquin May Beatty Briggs
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1935
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian.
Labels: goflexA, historical4, melodramaA, miriam-hopkins, period7
Tuesday, March 08, 2022
The Story of Temple Drake
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Miriam Hopkins Temple Drake Jack La Rue Trigger William Gargan Stephen Benbow Florence Eldridge Ruby Lemarr Irving Pichel James Goodwin Jobyna Howland Miss Reba Guy Standing Judge Drake Elizabeth Patterson Aunt Jennie Harlan Knight Pap James Eagles Tommy James Pier Mason Van Louise Beavers Minnie
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1933
Directed by Stephen Roberts.
Labels: §3, Criterion4, louise-beavers, miriam-hopkins, pre-code, southern-gothic
Thursday, July 29, 2021
The Old Maid
- Commentary: This movie is a subtly horrific construction that can't escape the description "woman bashing", but, being a Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins movie, it's incredibly engaging and fun to watch. I have to admit, even though it's a period piece and we're quietly encouraged to take this into consideration when judging Davis' and Hopkin's character's beliefs, actions and decisions, the circumstances proposed in this movie are almost too contrived to be believed. And, yet, watching Hopkins and Davis negotiate through them, well, you just kind of sit back, snuggle in for a good couple of hours and reach for the popcorn bowl.
This movie initiates the use of a new label, by the way, "mother-daughter-dynamics1". So far, it's the only one in this category, but I'm sure I have several that qualify, which is why I placed a "1" after the label name, and will search them out later. Right off the bat, for instance, Now, Voyager comes to mind.
For an interesting, thoughtful and wide-ranging essay on the subject of mothers sacrificing for daughters and other movie-mother insights, check out Mothers in the Movies. This movie is one of many mentioned in the essay.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Bette Davis Charlotte Lovell Miriam Hopkins Delia Lovell Ralston George Brent Clem Spender Jane Bryan Clementina Donald Crisp Dr. Lanskell Louise Fazenda Dora James Stephenson Jim Ralston Jerome Cowan Joseph Ralson William Lundigan Lanning Halsey Cecilia Loftus Henrietta Lovell William Hopper John Ward Frederick Burton Mr. Halsey
Here's the link to the Wikipedia write-up for this movie. As well, the link in the title of this post will lead you to DVD Savant's review of this movie; first review on the page.
Release Date: 1939
Directed by Edmund Goulding.
Labels: bette-davis, miriam-hopkins, mother-daughter-dynamics1, popcorn-and-soda7
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
The Heiress
- Commentary: I enjoyed this movie so much the first time around I watched it again, this afternoon (7/23/2021)! It's an interesting and curious story about a daughter who, even after his death, can't get out from underneath the restrictive hand of her father. It's my first movie under the category "father-daughter-dynamics". Seems odd that I haven't noticed any others to which that label applies, so I'll have to check through and see if I just didn't notice this with any other obvious possibilities.
This movie features a sweet, retiring "older" single daughter who feels so protected in her father's all-encompassing care that she doesn't realize until some years later in her life, well after her father's death, that the dynamics between her and her father have warped her for any semblance of enjoyable male-female relations. In addition, her first, and last, suitor is the smoothest and most dastardly of cads, but this is something she doesn't realize until it is too late, emotionally, for her to even consider pursuing any sexual bond. Her aunt, as well, doesn't help. She is a widow who so idealizes her one marriage that she is completely blind to what the audience sees developing almost immediately. In this blindness she offers her niece, Catherine, who is completely untutored in romantic relationships, such cockamamie advice that this smart, but, unfortunately, naive, niece of hers is simply locked in a web of well-meant but treacherous deceit. And don't even get me started on her father! Fathers, and aunts, and cads, oh my!
Very well acted. Very well written. Her change of character seemed sadly inevitable as I watched it happen, but her life and her reactions are fleshed out so well that, by the end, I did't feel pity for her but simply acknowledged her personal resolve. Yes, dear reader, I was surprised by my final reaction.
Update 8/10/21: I just obtained the 1997 remake of this film, or, rather, a re-filming of this story, Washington Square. At this precise moment I have not viewed it, yet, but I will be doing so tonight. I may, or may not, have comments to add, here, about the correspondences (or lack, thereof) between these two films. Stay tuned.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Olivia de Havilland Catherine Sloper Ralph Richardson Dr. Austin Sloper Miriam Hopkins Lavinia Penniman Montgomery Clift Morris Townsend Vanessa Brown Maria Betty Linley Mrs. Montgomery Ray Collins Jefferson Almond Mona Freeman Marian Almond Selena Royle Elizabeth Almond Paul Lees Arthur Townsend Harry Antrim Mr. Abeel Russ Conway Quintus
Here is the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
Release Date: 1949
Directed by William Wyler.
Labels: character-study, Criterion2, dramaD, father-daughter-dynamics, miriam-hopkins, romance4
Monday, February 05, 2018
Old Acquaintance
- Commentary: I initiated a new category for this movie, "women's-movie", directly at the suggestion of one of the special features on the movie disk that talks about how this movie is one of a genre of women's movies that went through a heyday in the 40's. I'm sure I have other women's movies in my scroll to the left. I'll be searching them out and tagging them as soon as I publish this write-up.
The friendship described in this movie between Kit Marlowe and Millie Preston is, in spirit, the exact duplicate of a friendship of which I'm a part: begun in childhood for reasons other than mutual attraction; carried on throughout the years partly through habit, partly because one of the members insists and the other does not refuse; one member painfully self-aware, the other dangerously clueless. I'll bet every woman has had (or still has) one such relationship. That, I think, is the attraction of this movie. Even if the superficial details diverge, the emotional details do not. This kind of relationship is superbly presented in this movie, including the ending in which the viewer, I think, is likely to feel sorry for Kit, even as her bravery in this relationship is understood and approved.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Bette Davis Kit Marlowe Miriam Hopkins Millie Drake Gig Young Rudd Kendall John Loder Preston Drake Dolores Moran Diedre Drake Phillip Reed Lucien Grant Roscoe Karns Charlie Archer Anne Revere Belle Carter Esther Dale Harriet Marjorie Hoshelle Margaret Kemp/Fan Club Leader Francine Rufo Child Diedre Ann Doran Music Store Saleslady
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1943
Directed by Vincent Sherman.
Labels: bette-davis, drama4, miriam-hopkins, popcorn-and-soda2, women's-movie1
