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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

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Lana Turner, Bette Davis, those were some and Joan Crawford. But those movies had stories you could sink your teeth into!! Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, I love old movies!!

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"


 

 

@adoreqvc, well, there was quite a downside too.  Talking in that overly theatrical voice, faux English, that nobody speaks in.  I find that very annoying and they way they pronounced some words (American actors putting on a very hokey way of speaking that was very fake and theatrical).  I can't stand that in old movies. 

 


Huh????

 

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"


@Oznell wrote:

Right again, cherry!  In "Laura",  Judith Anderson was, let's see, I think she was Laura's aunt (or was she her older cousin or something?).  Along with Clifton Webb and Vincent Price, she was under suspicion because she had a motive to want Laura out of the way-- she was in love with/involved with Vincent Price, who was supposedly enamored of Laura!  Excellent actress-- so austere and menacing as Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca".  In "Laura" she was frosty and self-centered, but as the discarded mistress, she somehow invited sympathy too...

 

Other things I really liked in "Laura"--- the haunting title tune, wonderful Dana Andrews who did his usual understated excellent job as the policeman obsessed with Laura, and Laura's gorgeous New York apartment...

 

 Now you're talking about my favorite movie. I know it backwards and forwards. I've even seen it on the big screen. The song is my favorite song, written by David Raksin. Haunting. Except when Woody Herman sings it. Don't like that version. I loved the dress Judith Anderson wore when Dana Andrews came to her apartment. Kind of a sarong look, can't describe it. I have the movie on VHS, DVD, and in my movies on DISH. I'm pretty well covered.

 

No one mentioned the Alan Ladd/Veronica Lake movies, my favorite being The Blue Dahlia. I never could stand Dlck Powell's singing, but in Murder My Sweet, he played a great tough guy. He's a natural. Out of the Past was mentioned with Robert Mitchum. I loved it. But when it comes to the end, I have to switch it off. Didn't like that ending-want to change it. And I want to scratch Jane Greer's eyes out. Do I love my old movies? Oh, yeah. And how about Casablanca and To Have and Have Not? omgosh I watch them over and over. And anything with Jimmy Stewart. And The Thin Man movies. I have to stop myself. I'll probably be back. Smiley Happy Thanks for a great thread.

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

adoreqvc, I am in awe that you got to see Duke Ellington in person, and am not surprised at the deep impression he made on your 19 year old self.  What a consummate performer, and composer as well.  A brilliant, very complex figure.  There is a biography of him out there, that I hear is very good, by an excellent writer, Terry Teachout. I keep meaning to track it down. He has written about other towering figures of jazz, and is supposed to know his stuff.

 

I so enjoy your deep appreciation of the era and the larger-than-life personalities and forces that made "The Golden Age" possible.

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

Sunshine45, those are classics of the genre that you cite-- they are "must-see" for sure.  "Mildred Pierce" does reward multiple viewings, there is so much there. Love Eve Arden in her sidekick role.  Aside from everything else, the fabulous sets!  That manifestation of Forties' haut glamour, the beach house where some of the important events took place. I want that beach house!

 

The home decor site "Hooked on Houses" even did an article on that beach house-- I recommend it!

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

QualityGal, absolutely, you are listing some of my favorites!

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

judaline, there is so much in your post that's meaty!  We are going to be late to church, but this is fun.  I know the dress you are talking about, that's how much of a fanatic I am!  It was so flattering and fit her perfectly.  Love the "Blue Dahlia" also-- I have a weakness for Alan Ladd.  Ditto Mr. (I won't make the mistake of using his first name again, ha) Powell.  He was great in several other noir outings, including "Pitfall" cited above.

 

You made me think of another one of my favorites-- "The Big Heat" with Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame.  Stunning, intense movie in which, famously, Lee Marvin throws scalding coffee at Gloria Grahame.

 

Want to address some other items, but must get ready.  More to come... 

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"


@Oznell wrote:

judaline, there is so much in your post that's meaty!  We are going to be late to church, but this is fun.  I know the dress you are talking about, that's how much of a fanatic I am!  It was so flattering and fit her perfectly.  Love the "Blue Dahlia" also-- I have a weakness for Alan Ladd.  Ditto Mr. (I won't make the mistake of using his first name again, ha) Powell.  He was great in several other noir outings, including "Pitfall" cited above.

 

You made me think of another one of my favorites-- "The Big Heat" with Glenn Ford and Gloria Grahame.  Stunning, intense movie in which, famously, Lee Marvin throws scalding coffee at Gloria Grahame.

 

Want to address some other items, but must get ready.  More to come... 


@Oznell  Well clearly you don't mean her "huh?" post which tells me nothing.   No matter.  Others understood my post quite well.   

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

Funny ,I understood @Judaline completely. One word can speak volumes

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Re: Vintage Movies-- Daring Dames and Conflicted Heroes in "Film Noir"

I may be getting too much intellectual stimulation today, ha-- I'm back from hearing a fantastic, thoughtful sermon, and there's all the riches of this thread. 

 

It's enjoyable getting such a cross-section of opinion and experience of other old movie hands.  Granted, it's a little harder to pick up everything that is meant in a cyber conversation than a face-to-face, where the nuances are less likely to be lost... so I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to any given poster b/c of that.  Love that we're all basically on a similar page, vintage-movie wise...

 

Was forgetting about the "sub-sub" category of film noir westerns.  Surely "Shane" is one of those, and also "The Searchers".  It's funny, I love John Wayne, even though most of his movies have subject matter that doesn't necessarily interest me.  But in a film as dark, and richly complex as "The Searchers", I could watch him all day long. (He also had a tender side you can see in a non-noir film he made late in his career with Lauren Bacall where he was dying-- rats, can't remember the name...