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For Classic Movie Night this week, John and I watched Double Indemnity (1944) with Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson and of course, Barbara Stanwyck…Two thumbs up on this classic film noir masterpiece from your erstwhile reviewers. Based on a novella by James M. Cain and with a screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, you don’t get much more noir than that. And, of course, you know why we really watched it…Yes…
Classic Movie Nights Past:
Father Goose (1964) – Cary Grant, Leslie Caron and Trevor Howard
The Thin Man (1934) – William Powell and Myrna Loy
Bullitt (1968) - Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, a wonderfully smarmy Robert Vaughn, a 1968 390 CID V8 Ford Mustang and a 1968 440 CID/375 bhp Dodge Charger
The Twelve Chairs (1970) – Early Mel Brooks staring twelve chairs
There have also been side trips into BlackAdder and The Three Stooges…
It’s John’s turn to pick for next week, so I don’t know what’s on tap yet. He did mention he was thinking about The Big Lebowski….I’ve never seen it, so we will wait and see what John decides.
“…North by Northwest isn’t a film about what happens to Cary Grant, it’s about what happens to his suit…” – Todd McEwen
See picture below and notice the color dfference when he is not under the intense lighting…
One of my few American lady friends. Years back, New Jersey’s Eva and I spent a lot of time together…Very nice lady and loads of fun. You will remember her from the time she co-stared with Cary Grant’s suit in North by Northwest…
Each of you should, by now, own a copy of the original Thomas Crown Affair. Not the horrid remake, but the original film of 1968, directed by Norman Jewison. In this film you will witness some of the best tailoring evah. The bespoke wardrobe worn by Steve McQueen in this film is breathtaking. Any man whose suit matches his Rolls gets my endorsement. Goes without saying really…You will also learn, why, back in the day, we all wanted to play chess with Faye Dunaway. If you evah get the chance, and you don’t know how to play, believe me, you’ll want to fake it and play anyway.
Get it, watch it, live it…
By the way, the shades are Persol model 714 sunglasses with folding frame.
Further research: Breaking Down Thomas Crown
And yes, Miss Dunaway was very, very RCBfA…
David Niven appeared in films for over 50 years of his life, from swashbucklers such as The Prisoner of Zenda to playing the part of the ‘bogus gentleman’ (which, he claimed, was his only acting talent) in Paper Tiger. Despite his on-screen persona, Niven would later admit that he wasn’t always the perfect gentleman. He was insecure both privately and professionally. He used people for his own ends, which was something he learned in Hollywood, but he did, he said, ‘at least try to be a decent man.’ He knew he often failed, although it isn’t easy to find people who ever had a bad word to say about him. In this fascinating biography of the star, Munn looks at the funny stories and the sad underlying truth, from his outrageous days with Errol Flynn and their irrevocable split -’You always know where you are with Flynn. He always lets you down’ – and affairs with stars such as Ava Gardner, to admissions of infidelity, an attempted suicide and the breakdown and blame of his second marriage. Funny, poignant and told with the compassion of one who knew him, this is a fascinating portrayal of a legend that really gets behind the screen and autobiographical persona. Writer, actor, director and former journalist and Hollywood publicist, Michael Munn, has written twenty-one books, including the best selling John Wayne: the Man behind the Myth and the acclaimed Richard Burton: Prince of Players.
28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964
Laird Cregar 1913-1944
One of my favorite actors in the world of Classic Film is Laird Cregar. Cregar was, at 6′3″ and 300lbs., huge both in stature and in talent. He could, and did play anything, and do it exceptionally well. Comedy, drama, old, young, hero, villain, he could do it all. If you don’t believe me watch the Jack Benny film Charley’s Aunt. In it Cregar plays one of the college boy’s father, Sir Francis Chesney, a fifty-something widower. He gives a wonderful comic performance. But what is more remarkable is that Cregar was 28 years old when he made the film. See it to believe it. He was the heavy in This Gun For Hire, Blood and Sand, Capt. Morgan in The Black Swan , psycho killer in The Lodger and the Devil himself in Heaven Can Wait, another delightful performance. At this point Cregar wanted to stop being stereotyped as the “heavy” or another Sydney Greenstreet in films, so he embarked on a crash diet and lost 100 pounds very quickly. This was such a shock to his system that he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of 31. Thus we were deprived of what would assuredly have been a long and distinguished career. We are left to watch what he accomplished during his short life, and this is very good.
