TV and Movies

[Oznell]

A couple of goodies that would make a great backdrop for holiday prep, or "just because":

Noon Eastern--  "The Lady from Shanghai"   Rita Hayworth's "other" great, mysterious role (apart from "Gilda").  She's cropped, and almost white-blonde here-- startlingly so.  Married to a wily, powerful operator, she's nevertheless a powerful draw for Orson Welles.  For him, Rita really puts the "fatale" in "femme fatale"...

1:45 Eastern--  "On the Waterfront"   Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden

Often-seen, beloved account of Brando standing up to union corruption and thuggery.  Realism, great writing and top acting.

[SharkE]

Poor Rita hers is a sad story. Thinking she was married to Orson Welles.

Blonde hair looks awful on her. She had bad childhood, poor choices in men like most women made in Hollywood.  Then, she got dementia. Books on her, galore, out there. Her daughter by Aga Khan wrote one also.

My sister and I always talking about how women from the golden age of Hollywood could had done so much better if they had just dated the creeps and low lifes and never married them. Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds come to mind.

[Oznell]

Yeah, @SharkE, Rita seems to have been set up for failure, almost, with her own dysfunctional family and childhood, and then Hollywood stepping in to exploit her, as well as the men in her life.  What a breath of fresh air she was on the screen, though.  The young Rita, exuberant and full of vitality, with that luminous, spontaneous, almost "silvery" presence...

Glad her daughter-- Yasmin, was it?-- took such good care of her at the end.

[SharkE]

I'm reading a book, that great big ol' Barbara Stanwyck book by Victoria Wilson that is like 1000 pages and that's just the first part of her life. Think she is writing another one as big on the last yrs of her Hollywood life then the TV work she did.

I'm skipping over lots of stuff I don't see why she thought it was necessary to write a 'dictionary' size book on the woman. You can read a small book like 300 or so pages and get the gist of her career. Like most women in that time period she had back alley procedures done and she couldn't have kids.

Then , way later on she adopted a boy and then she never had anything to do with him and he wasn't in her will I don't think. Why women always think they had to have kids or adopt kids then abuse them is beyond me. Joan Crawford of course is the # 1 that comes to mind, BD, Bette Davis daughter wrote a scathing book on her and after that Bette wrote her off.

Katherine Hepburn which I thought was ugly and skinny had more sense then lot of them she said "you can't do both, well". You can't be a # 1 star and be any kind of parent. I agree with that 100%. She had enough sense not to have kids. Lana Turner , had one girl and her life sure wasn't a bowl of cherries and is now living with her female pardner.

I thought Faye Dunaway did good job portraying Crawford, but, she sure got blasted at the time. Didn't like that little girl who portrayed Christina , though.  Think it was her hair or something. LOL

[Somertime]

The Lady from Shanghi is a great movie but I think you need to watch it more than once.  The fun house scene is amazing!  I liked Hayworth with the blonde hair.  Orson Wells apologized in later years for his treatment of her.  He said she loved him very much as he did her but was too self involved with himself at the time.  He, always, felt guilty that he did not safeguard her.  He said it was his one regret.

Her marriage to ****** Haymes was the worst choice she ever made!  He was a nightmare and because of him she, almost, lost her two daughters.

She, always, said "They married Rita Hayworth but they woke up with me".  She was a beautiful woman, a fabulous dancer and had a lovely singing voice which they rarely used.  It was a heartbreaker that she had Alzheimer's.  Her daughter, Princess Yasmin Aga Khan has made this her cause in life.  She looked to much like her mother when she was younger.  Fortunately, Yasmin had the resources to take marvelous care of her mother and was very attentive to her as well.

[spiderw]

Despite the obstacles and difficulties in Rita's life, she was a shining star in the movies.  She was a beautiful actress and a true movie star of her time.  

On the Waterfront, what a classic.  I saw it when it came out in the movies at a young age and didn't quite understand it.  However, after seeing it when older I loved  it. I lived at the city next  to Hoboken where it was filmed.  Brando was in his own category and the rest of the cast all excellent.  

[Oznell]

@SharkE, I think I've read a shorter bio of Stanwyck, and even it had too much material!  Always thought it was sad about her ex Frank Fay, and especially, her son.  The quality of "parenting" that she had herself probably left her not knowing what to do with a child, tragically...

That's so true, @Somertime, about "...Shanghai".  It's an odd, sometimes confounding film, with brilliant intervals like that fatally mirrored funhouse you reference, and the rendezvous at the aquarium.  Very moody, and talky, and you do need to see it multiple times!

@spiderw, I first saw it as a teenager too, but on TV.  I'll never forget the electrifying effect "On the Waterfront" had on me.  Truly unique and groundbreaking.