Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  This is a curious Tracey/Hepburn production, initially badly reviewed but its reputation improved greatly over time; just check out the Reception section of the Wikipedia write-up for it. That section is detailed in its explanation of the film being revived in the view of critics. I think its reassessment has a lot to do with the times we live in right now and the furor over anti-fascism that the recent Trump Presidency brought us.
    When I initially acquired it, I wasn't thinking specifically of its anti-fascist slant. For some months I had been vividly remembering scenes from it without bothering to consider why those scenes continued to reappear in my memory. I'm quite sure, even without a specific memory of my first viewing, that I initially saw the movie before 2008 when my mother was alive and we had a streaming service that featured TCM, and haven't watched it since. I think, this time, my interest was revived by a wayward waltz, over the last few weeks, through all my Tracey/Hepburn and Hepburn movies, which ignited interest in those I either hadn't seen or didn't own. At any rate, a few weeks ago my interest in this movie became so great, and I found a price so low, that I decided to acquire it.
    I'll write more about my reactions to this movie, later. Right now, I'm going to create a post (which will appear immediately above this one) about how it also triggered my interest in anti-fascist movies, of the early 20th century through now, and explore that, a bit.
    More on this specific movie later, I'm sure, including my offense at the ending, where I attempt a stab at why it ended as it did and whether the ending was stupid, or merely inevitable because of the time in which it was made.
  P.S.  This movie is mentioned in the review I wrote for Undercurrent.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Steven O'Malley	Katharine Hepburn	Christine Forrest	Richard Whorf	Clive Kerndon	Margaret Wycherly	Mrs. Forrest
  Forrest Tucker	Geoffrey Midford	Frank Craven	Doctor Fielding	Stephen McNally	Freddie Ridges	Percy Kilbride	Orion Peabody
  Audrey Christie	Jane Harding	Darryl Hickman	Jeb Rickards	Donald Meek	Mr. Arbuthnot	Howard Da Silva	Jason Rickards

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1942
    Directed by George Cukor.

Labels: anti-fascist, dramaD, katharine-hepburn, melodramaA, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 02:55    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  Ah! This movie is a buried gem! I knew nothing about it when I spotted it at Costco. The play from which it is adapted continues to be produced and, apparently, over the last few years, has been considered especially timely: check out this link for proof. I purchased it solely on the strength of it being yet another Tracy/Hepburn movie. When Mom and I enthusiastically cracked the case that afternoon and watched the movie, we were both blown away! Aside from the fact that I can't believe this movie isn't more well known, it's extremely timely. It talks about political and economic issues with which we are still struggling; it suggests the possibility of not only a European Union but a World Union with a World Currency; it discusses the problems of corporate industry and talks about the relationship between management and unions...and, of course, it deals heavily with political corruption by lobbyists and business. Its story line includes a sub-story which is a frank exploration of marriage versus mistresses and the "sacrifices" wives and husbands appear to be obliged to make when one of them becomes involved in politics. It is yet another one of Frank Capra's movies and is clearly identifiable as one. And, it was made in 1948!
    Mom and I were both wowed by this movie and wondered why it isn't considered among the Tracy/Hepburn classics, or among Capra's classics. We watched it multiple times before Mom died. I've watched it a couple of times since.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Grant Matthews	Katharine Hepburn	Mary Matthews	Van Johnson	Spike McManus	Adolphe Menjou	Jim Conover
  Lewis Stone	Sam Thorndyke	Howard Smith	Sam I. Parish	Maidel Turner	Lulubelle Alexander	Margaret Hamilton	Norah

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1948
    Directed by Frank Capra.

Labels: drama6, frank-capra, katharine-hepburn, me-favorite2, political3, popcorn-and-soda3, presidential, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 16:49    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  none
• 
  Commentary:  The Collection contains the following movies:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Corn is Green - directed by George Cukor
    This was Mom's favorite of the collection. Of course it was. Mom was a teacher, not by default, as so many are, but by choice. She believes in the importance of good teaching. When she was in the Navy she was an instructor, in fact; a gunnery instructor. She was a crack shot, in and out of uniform. That's how she met my father. He was one of her students in the Navy.
    I think she would have liked to have been in a situation like the one laid out in the movie. In fact, considering that she taught in country schools in very rural areas before going into the Navy, perhaps she was.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Lilly Moffat	Ian Saynor	Morgan Evans	Bill Fraser	The Squire	Patricia Hayes	Mrs. Watty
  Anna Massey	Miss Ronberry	Artro Morris	John Goronwy Jones	Dorothea Phillips	Sarah Pugh	Toyah Willcox	Bessie Watty

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1979
  
  
  
  Morning Glory - directed by Lowell Sherman
    Although the idea of the movie attracted me because I have actors in my family, in many ways I find this movie uncomfortably jittery, rather like Hepburn's portrayal of Eva Lovelace. Mom found it too jittery to watch for long. I don't think she ever viewed the entire movie of a piece. I don't blame her but, frankly, I'm glad I have a copy of it, if for no other reason that to remind me of the crazier aspects of pursuing the acting profession. Not everyone who does exhibits behavior like Eva's, but, believe me, such aspiring actors are not in the minority.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Eva Lovelace	Douglas Fairbanks Jr	Joseph Sheridan	Adolphe Menjou	Louis Easton	Mary Duncan	Rita Verdon
  C. Aubrey Smith	Robert Harley Hedges	Don Alvarado	Pepi Velez	Fredric Santley	Will Seymour	Richard Carle	Henry Lawrence
  Tyler Brooke	Charley Van Duesen	Geneva Mitchell	Gwendoline Hall	Helen Ware	Nellie Navarre	Robert Adair	Roberts

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1933
  
  
  
  Sylvia Scarlett - directed by George Cukor
    Mom didn't find this one interesting, despite her interest in gender-bender movies, but I did. The caper part of the story was beside the point, to me, but Hepburn was able to play a superb boy, I think.
    Since Mom's death, though, I've learned more about the film itself and now that "we're" in an LBGTQ kind of mood, I find watching the movie for trans detail pretty interesting. I've done this twice within the last couple of years. It has a strong feminist undercurrent.
    Although the movie has certain peculiarities that could be (and were, at the time of its release) considered flaws, those same pointed-out flaws now seem more like societal misunderstandings that included both critics and audiences, like it just wasn't time, yet, for this movie or this idea.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Sylvia Scarlett	Cary Grant	Jimmy Monkey	Brian Aherne	Michael Fane	Edmund Gwenn	Henry Scarlett

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1935
  
  
  
  Undercurrent - directed by Vincente Minnelli
    I honestly don't remember anything about this movie, even though I'm sure we watched it. I have no idea if Mom does.
  Update 5/23/2022:  As of this day, I still don't know whether I, or we, ever watched this film. That's something I should do tonight. Maybe it's one of those movies, like Keeper of the Flame, that's so turgid that the only way you can remember it is by watching it yet again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Ann Hamilton	Robert Taylor	Alan Garroway	Edmund Gwenn	Prof. "Dink" Hamilton	Marjorie Main	Lucy
  Jayne Meadows	Sylvia Lea Burton	Clinton Sundberg	Mr. Warmsley	Dan Tobin	Prof. Joseph Bangs	Kathryn Card	Mrs. Foster

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1946
  → film-noir2
  
  
  
  Without Love - directed by Harold S. Bucquet
    I found this movie minimally intriguing, because of Hepburn's and Tracey's IRL relationship, but for me, that was almost all that was intriguing about it. Mom liked it very much.
    I was disappointed because it was one of the few Tracy/Hepburn movies I hadn't seen and the description interested me...but, I don't know, their chemistry seemed off in this film, as though they were having a long personal argument underneath the script. It was distracting. However, Lucille Ball plays a fun part in it and Gloria Grahame (Violet Bick in It's a Wonderful Life)
    Mom really liked the character that Hepburn played in this movie, which didn't surprise me...I think Mom imagined herself as "that type".
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Patrick Jameson	Katharine Hepburn	Jamie Rowan	Lucille Ball	Kitty Trimble	Keenan Wynn	Quentin Ladd
  Carl Esmond	Paul Carrell	Patricia Morison	Edwina Collins	Felix Bressart	Prof. Ginza	Gloria Grahame	Flower Girl

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1945
  
  
  
  Dragon Seed - directed by Harold S. Bucquet & Jack Conway
    I would have loved to have managed to link to a full copy of James Agee's review of this film. Not being able to find it, though, I did find a description of it that included excerpts, thank you Claude Rains Fan Club. The Dragon Seed review is the first review on this page. That being said, both Mom and I were a little off-put by this movie, almost too much to enjoy it. Both of us have always been annoyed with yellow-black-red-any/face. Although all were a common practice during a certain time period in Hollywood (and, sometimes, even now), it's very distracting. Hollywood, find actors who are of the ethnicity you need! If you can't find anyone, look harder! They're out there!
  Update 5/23/20:  Regarding yellow face: While putting together the Actor/Role table, below, my curiosity got the best of me and I searched for a really full cast listing of this movie to see if the one Asian American named among the first sixteen actors listed was the only Asian American. Turns out, quite a few Asian Americans appeared in this movie but, of course, not in any upper lead roles. The further down you go on the Cast & Crew list, the more likely you are to find an Asian American actor. Shameful for its time, indeed! The Asian American actors were out there, and, apparently, were enlisted in this cast, but only one appeared in an leading role.
  P.S  DVD Savant's article on this collection, linked to the title of this post, gives meticulous, interesting reviews for each one of the movies above. It's easy to find them in his write-up.
    This collection was clearly put together to make a little money off Hepburn's lesser known works. That's okay. I'm always interested in viewing odd movies by, so to speak, "even" (in this case, meaning "famous") people. This collection is a doozy! I'm surprised The Madwoman of Chaillot wasn't included! Yes, Virginia, I saw that film. 'Nuf said.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Jade	Walter Huston	Ling Tan	Aline MacMahon	Ling Tan's Wife	Akim Tamiroff	Wu Lien
  Turhan Bey	Lao Er Tan	Hurd Hatfield	Lao San Tan	J. Carrol Naish	Japanese Kitchen Overseer	Agnes Moorehead	Third Cousin's Wife
  Henry Travers	Third Cousin	Robert Bice	Lao Ta Tan	Robert Lewis	Captain Sato	Frances Rafferty	Japanese Official
  Leonard Strong	Japanese Official	Jacqueline deWit	Wu Lien's wife	Clarence Lung	Fourth Cousin	Paul E. Burns	Neighbor Shen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1944

Labels: cary-grant, film-noir2, gender-bender, katharine-hepburn, marjorie-main, melodramaB, pre-code, spencer-tracy, teaching, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 19:30    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  Yet another that is well covered in the one mention of it in the main journal. Can't think of much else to say except that Mom remains highly entertained by this movie...and, for all it's datedness and its pertinent faults which Roger Ebert points out meticulously in his excellent review (despite his perception of its faults, he still gave it four stars, although, thank the movie gods, he didn't assign it "Great Movie" status) so do I.
  Update 5/19/2022:  Should I be embarrassed to say the following, that I continue to watch this movie at least once a year? I do. It's another one of those movies that transports me to watching it with my mother, recalling her comments as she watches it, absorbing her enjoyment ... yes, another one of those. No, I'm not embarrassed, I've decided. Just grateful that I have such clear memories of Mom watching this movie.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Matt Drayton	Katharine Hepburn	Christina Drayton	Sidney Poitier	Dr. John Wade Prentice	Katharine Houghton	Joanna Drayton
  Cecil Kellaway	Monsignor Ryan	Beah Richards	Mary Prentice	Roy E. Glenn Sr.	Mr. John Prentice Sr.	Isabel Sanford	Tilly
  Virginia Christine	Hilary St. George	Alexandra Hay	carhop	Barbara Randolph	Dorothy	D'Urville Martin	Frankie
  Tom Heaton	Peter	Grace Gaynor	Judith	Jacqueline Fontaine	Cocktail Lounge Singer	Skip Martin	Delivery Boy

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1967
    Directed by Stanley Kramer.

Labels: drama8, historical3, katharine-hepburn, political3, popcorn-and-soda3, romance2, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 18:20    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  Both my mother and I found Kathryn Hepburn's participation in this project especially revealing, and the letter she wrote to "Spence" after his death especially touching.
    Please note, in order to access the article linked to the title of this post you will have to click into TCM's title link. It seems impossible to directly link to articles on TCM's website.
    The top image, by the way, is a copy of the cover of the collection. The second image is of the cover of the individual dvd.
    As of 8/17/21, there is no Wikipedia write-up for this documentary.
    Release Date: 1986
    This video is a part of the Tracy & Hepburn The Signature Collection.
  
  
  
  
  

Labels: biography2, documentary1, popcorn-and-soda5, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 02:01    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  Mom doesn't like this one as much as the other two Hepburn/Tracy movies we have. I think she considers some of the sentiment about marriage dishonest. She also, for some reason, has a hard time following the conversation in this movie; maybe because a lot of political and sports metaphors are used.
    I consider it an unusually brave movie for the time because of the subject matter and for all time because it dares to complicate the issues of love and marriage for highly ambitious women, something we continue to consider daring, today.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Katharine Hepburn	Tess Harding	Spencer Tracy	Sam Craig	Fay Bainter	Ellen Whitcomb	Reginald Owen	Clayton

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1942
    Directed by George Stevens.
    This movie is a part of the Tracy/Hepburn Collection.
  

Labels: dramedy2, katharine-hepburn, popcorn-and-soda6, shared-favorite, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 01:55    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  This is the least played of the three Hepburn/Tracy movies we have, but this is not to say it is not well played. The character in this movie seems to remind my mother one of her cousins with whom she went to college, as, every time we watch this movie she gets an urge to call this cousin. The cousin wasn't a golf star, but she was of big, bold character, a type much admired by my mother's generation of women.
    This movie is a part of the Tracy & Hepburn Signature Collection.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Mike Conovan	Katharine Hepburn	Pat Pemberton	Aldo Ray	Davie Hucko	Jim Backus	Charles Barry

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1952
    Directed by George Cukor.

Labels: comedy2, katharine-hepburn, mom-favorite2, romance3, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 19:08    0 comments    email......this post