TV and Movies

[Oznell]

@trenet, I must look for those novels!

[Big Joanie]

Mildred Pierce the book was great ....

[drizzellla]

Double Indemnity has lots of twists and turns. And some very good actors to play with our emotions.

I especially like Fred McMurray. He really had some remarkable roles. Someone mentioned the Apartment and he was also a real sleaze in Caine Mutiny. I read somewhere that after he made the Apartment, he stopped taking roles where he was "the bad guy". 

And Edward G Robinson  - the Jiminy Cricket of the movie. He adds sanity to the two crazy people Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  

I also look forward to Edward G. Robinson on March 9, in Larceny Inc. In fact the entire evening will be Edward G. Robinson.

[Highlands72]

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@drizzelllawrote:

Double Indemnity has lots of twists and turns. And some very good actors to play with our emotions.

I especially like Fred McMurray. He really had some remarkable roles. Someone mentioned the Apartment and he was also a real sleaze in Caine Mutiny. I read somewhere that after he made the Apartment, he stopped taking roles where he was "the bad guy". 

And Edward G Robinson  - the Jiminy Cricket of the movie. He adds sanity to the two crazy people Fred McMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  

I also look forward to Edward G. Robinson on March 9, in Larceny Inc. In fact the entire evening will be Edward G. Robinson.

“The Caine Mutiny”— another great film. Around that same time, MacMurray played a bad cop in “Pushover,” with Kim Novak. He was good in “bad guy” roles.

Like you mentioned, I read that he wanted to stop playing this type of character and that he wanted to do only “family” films, after signing with Disney.

[Oznell]

I so agree with you all about Fred.  He always had a "soulful" quality, combined interestingly with that Midwestern decency.  I wonder if his saxophone-playing and "boy singer" background was a contributor.

In addition to films mentioned, he was terrific in "Remember the Night", also with Stanwyck,  in "Boderline" with Claire Trevor, and as another enigmatic character in "The Caine Mutiny"...

[OKPrincess]

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@softwarewrote:

That's a good one!!

My earliest memory of Fred McMurray was from My Three Sons, I didn't know he was such a great movie actor!

The movie made nearly $6,000,000 in 1945!!

"From the moment they met it was murder"

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And Barbara Stanwyck from Big Valley.

[sunshine 919]

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@Oznellwrote:

11:15 a.m. Eastern--  "Double Indemnity"--   Some say this Billy Wilder-directed film is the greatest film noir ever made.  Barbara Stanwyck (my favorite actress of the Golden Age) is slinky and deadly, the perfect honey-trap for smart but weak insurance agent, Fred MacMurray. 

As much as I love those two in this, even more I love Fred's good buddy and fellow insurance guy, Edward G. Robinson.  He's so very canny, and yet has such a big heart.  He's a total mensch, who lives to almost regret his relentless sleuthing.

The languid Forties' Los Angeles ambiance in this is yet another reason to watch and  savor....

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Love this movie, watching it now.  I agree that Edward G. Robinson is great in this.  I must say Fred MacMurray is so believable in this.   Then you can turn around and see him in the " Egg and I" and he is great in that too.  What a range he had.  Love the " Egg and I"

[software]

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@OKPrincesswrote:

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@softwarewrote:

That's a good one!!

My earliest memory of Fred McMurray was from My Three Sons, I didn't know he was such a great movie actor!

The movie made nearly $6,000,000 in 1945!!

"From the moment they met it was murder"

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And Barbara Stanwyck from Big Valley.

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So true but I wasn't a fan of The Big Valley, I was young and dumb, that's all I can say!!

[yellowBeetle]

Loved watching this again for the umpteenth time!

Barbara Stanwyck is riveting. (She and Bette Davis are my top two favorite actresses of all time! ) And Fred MacMurray is so utterly natural and believable. Edward G. Robinson is simply adorable. That scene with the door opening out into the hall with Stanwyck hiding behind it never gets old for the "suspense" factor!

Another great MacMurray movie is Alice Adams, with Katharine Hepburn. It's one of his earliest...1935. He is a favorite of mine, too  ... such a range ... agree that he is so good as the heel in The Apartment.

And I read ... or heard on TCM ... that after making Double Indemnity, Stanwyck sought out a light, comedic role and that's when she did my all-time favorite holiday movie, Christmas in Connecticut! 

[Oznell]

@drizzellla, that EGR minifest sounds great, thanks for mentioning!  Hope you'll remind us all when it comes up.