The Strange Love of Martha Ivers - 1946

It took me far too long to see this film. In part, it was because I was scared of Barbara Stanwyck. Ridiculous as it may be, she always seemed to be snarling at me.

http://www.paperdroids.com/2013/03/08/silver-screen-goddesses-with-gumption/

Was I nuts? Partially. I am so glad that I have rectified my mistake.
She had an incredibly hard start to life - orphaned at age 4 - in and out of foster homes - and managed with grim determination to get started on Broadway and thus Hollywood.One can only imagine the casting couches and Lotharios she had to negotiate around to get to where she got. She apparently did not approve of FDR and his government handouts - if she hadn't had any handouts. why should anyone else? One cannot necessarily blame her for snarling.

Despite the fact that she is the titular hero of the film - she doesn't feature in it all that much. Large swathes of the film are left to Van Heflin and Lizabeth Scott - and they do a wonderful job.

Lizabeth Scott seemed to the flame that the moth of Scandal was drawn to. Her relationship with Tallulah Bankhead during the run of the stage play "The Skin of Our Teeth' is  one of the possible contenders to the crown of the true 'All About Eve' inspiration.

http://theantiyale.blogspot.com.au/search?q=the+skin+of+our+teeth

By the way - anyone spot the earnest young man to the right of the picture? That's right - the very young and extraordinarily beautiful Montgomery Clift.

There we go again - just for good measure.

Lizabeth Scott also suffered the not-unique misfortune of being named in Confidential Magazine as a lesbian. She sued them - which led to an onslaught of various lawsuits from a number of irate actors. Lizabeth was not successful in her lawsuit, but the stuff that was coming out of the other lawsuits pushed her particular scandal to one side. I don't know for sure whether her dwindling success was as a result of the article (how horrendous that a magazine can just decide to do that to a person, I mean, it's their livelihood for crying out loud) or because she was increasingly disenchanted with The Acting Lark - but in any event she did not make all that many films. There are, however, an intriguing series of interviews with her on YouTube. Watch them in particular if you have a fascination with voices. I'm still trying to figure hers out.

It is reported that Kirk Douglas ended up taking the role of Walter O'Neil because his latest show on Broadway had finished and he had a family to look after. One member of this family was the very young Michael Douglas.

http://faustineisgone.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/this-is-what-i-like-7.html 

 You get to the end of the film and think "you poor screwed up people' - particularly about Martha and Walter. I mean, seriously. Imagine actually going through what they went through - it's a wonder that they aren't both in straight-jackets.

Far better not to take the film as seriously as that - sit back and marvel at the late night goings on in Iverstown and the spacious hotel rooms available to all and sundry.

And finally - a big Hip Hooray to Mr Kitty. He nearly kills himself every couple of weeks editing the B'Jiminy out of my constant ramblings on.

Here's to Mr Kitty. Get that man some home brew.

Fantastic Frocks - Bette Davis evening gown "All About Eve"

I thought I'd give you a shorter watch this week - a little snippet about a gown with a great story behind it.

 The many dramas that came as a result of making 'All About Eve' are legendary. Fortunately, the one about this dress did not involve a marriage breakdown. Well, not directly...

Edith Head had an excellent working relationship with Bette Davis, as she had managed to find a way to worth with Bette's unusual figure. As a result, even though her gowns ought to have been designed by Charles Le Maire, who was Head of Costuming at Twentieth Century Fox, she was able to get Edith on board specifically for her. Charles Le Maire was perhaps both alarmed and alert at this news, but he took the lines of least resistance (far better to keep silent and watch carefully than to complain loudly and have it bite you in the butt later) and they worked together successfully on the film. Both Bette Davis' and Anne Baxter's gown for the party scene reflect this - Eve's gown had to be like Margo's to indicate stuff that I won't give away if you haven't seen the film!

From 'Edith Head' by David Chierichetti - courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

If you have seen the film, isn't it terrific? Love it. If you haven't - watch it. It won't disappoint, and all of a sudden a vast swathe of filmic references you haven't quite understood over the years will suddenly make sense.

I will leave you with this excerpt from 'Edith Head: The Life and TImes of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer" by David Chierichetti.

"There's an old saying: 'You don't kid a kidder'. It might be rephrased: 'You don't play a player,' and Charles Le Maire was a player second only to Edith when it came to studio politics. He had received his job at Fox as a reward for agreeing to marry the soon-to-be-discarded wife of a Fox executive. The lady in question was willing to give her husband a divorce, provided that the studio would find her a second suitable husband, and Le Maire, a longtime Broadway designer whose assignments had been  getting infrequent by the early 1940's, agreed to marry her if he were made the head of the Fox costume department. It had worked out well all around: for several years, Fox had been needing a strong hand on the job, which Le Maire supplied, and he lived happily with his new wife until her death."

 Stranger Than Fiction

Thank you!

Dear All You Guys,

This is a quick thank you - because you all deserve it. Thank you so much for watching the reviews, for making comments, for reading the blog - every little bit of what you have done is so very much appreciated. And if you don't quite believe me by reading this blog, check out this.....

See, it's true!
x.x.x.x.

Tea and Sympathy - 1956 - Deborah Kerr, John Kerr, Leif Erickson

Kitty Hollywood reviews Tea and Sympathy.
1956, MGM
Director: Vincent Minelli
Starring:
Deborah Kerr
John Kerr
Leif Erikson
Darryl Hickman

This is a poignant, tender tale examining the concepts of love and masculinity. Truly controversial in its time, the film now is a fascinating glimpse into a world that really isn't all that far away from the one we currently occupy.

I had heard of this film but, times being what they were back then in the 80's and 90's I had to scour the television guide on a regular basis to get a glimpse of this film. Ah, the internet.

In the end, the first time I saw any of this film was when I went to see 'The Celluloid Closet'. It is the most fascinating documentary about the depiction of LGBQTI in Hollywood films (both positive and negative) and utterly opened this naive little bunny's eyes. Find out more here.

Like many films that were stage plays first, this has a slightly staged feel about it. I don't mind this - the claustrophobic feel that you get from the film works very well with the subject matter. Check out this blog post for what I consider to be a really great take on the film.

http://acertaincinema.com/media-tags/helen-rose/

The costumes in this film were done by Helen Rose, who was the head of Costume at MGM at the time. Helen Rose was an extremely prolific and successful designer both in film and then in then later she opened her own design business. She is perhaps best known as the designer of Grace Kelly's wedding gown.

http://goodbyemiss.com/wedding/wedding-dress-style-inspiration-grace-kelly

She obviously worked very closely with Vincente Minnelli to follow through with his use of colour in the film. There has been quite a lot written about the use of blue in particular in this film (it's in the essay I mentioned earlier) - with Tom commencing in light blue and travelling throughout the film in various light blue shades - until towards the end when he is determined to show the world what a 'man' he is, he appears in a dark blue suit. I don't honestly know whether it would be a blessing or a curse to have a director with such a strong colour connect with his film, but personally I think it would be a great challenge.

And finally, Darryl Hickman. He is one of those people who, as soon as you are properly aware of them, they start popping out at you from all over the place. I had no idea he was in so many films - or indeed, had gone on to be such a success behind the screen. Here's a fascinating double shot of him and his more televisually famous brother Dwayne...

http://relatedhowagain.wordpress.com/2013/05/26/121-that-famous-relativity-ii

Check out 'Tea and Sympathy' - we might kid ourselves that we are a million light years away from this in terms of how society has progressed, but  I don't know - it doesn't always seem that way.