So Clear Your Busy Schedules on May 21 and Watch Some Bob!

 Gorgeous photo.  As is the subject!  

                      By Hurrell for Blondie of the Follies (1932)

TCM has come through with a seven-movie Montgomery marathon for his birthday!  Mr. Montgomery would have appreciated that.   

 The list of movies with show times in PDT:

                 6:00 a.m. Piccadilly Jim (1936)

                 8:00 a.m. The Last of Mrs. Cheney (1937)

                10:00 a.m. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)

                12:00 p.m. They Were Expendable (1945)

                2:30 p.m. Night Must Fall (1937)***

                4:30 p.m. When Ladies Meet (1933)

                6:00 p.m. The Lady in the Lake (1946)

*** The TCM schedule lists the 1964 version of Night Must Fall.  I do hope someone catches that error!  

When Ladies Meet is the only pre-code movie.  This is a collection of Bob movies wherein he has developed into an excellent actor.  From a dramatic thriller (Night Must Fall), to a screwball comedy (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), to a dramatic war movie (They Were Expendable), Mr. Montgomery simply excelled.

And, yes, the photograph does not match up with the rest of the post. But ain't it sweet!

Audrey and Irene, Two Peas in a Pod

Well, if astrology is correct, then today's birthday ladies are!  Hmmm, I have never thought of Irene "First Lady of Hollywood" Dunne and Audrey "Bad Girl" Totter as being in anyway similar, but perhaps it's the roles they played that separated them and not their selves.

Let's see ... they both starred in movies with Bob, Irene in Unfinished Business (1941) and Audrey in both Lady in the Lake (1947) and The Saxon Charm (1948).  

            Irene reads Bob's palm on the set of Unfinished Business

            Adrienne (Audrey) offers coffee to Marlowe (Bob) in 
                                 Lady in the Lake

And they both had just one husband, rather unique for Hollywood.  Irene was married to Dr. Francis Griffin, a dentist, for 37 years and Audrey to Dr. Leo Fred, an assistant Dean of Medicine at UCLA, for 43 years.  Both ladies outlived their husbands and died in their 90's, Irene 91 and Audrey 95!  They were both involved in politics, particularly Ms. Dunne, and like Bob, were staunch Republicans.

Above all, they were both classy ladies.  

What's Better Than One Montgomery? SEVEN!!

                                          Untamed (1929)

Well, are we all thoroughly satiated and exhausted ... ready to face more goodies and celebration on New Years Eve?  Hope Santa was good to you, no coal in the stocking at least!  Santa's gift to me came in the form of the TCM Now Playing Guide.  Joan Crawford is the featured star for January and they are showing all five of the movies she made with Bob!!  And if that prospect was not good enough, they have included two more Bob movies, Lady in the Lake and Private Lives.  It is just a great way to start off the year, 2014 is already better than 2013 has been, for me anyway.  Thought I would list them for you, as an aid to remembering to spend several delightful hours with Bob and Joan, Bob and Audrey and Bob and Norma.   All times given are PST. 

         Jan. 2  - 9:00 p.m., Our Blushing Brides (1930)

         Jan. 3  - 8:00 a.m., Untamed (1929)

         Jan. 6  - 3:00 p.m., Lady in the Lake (1947)

         Jan. 9  - 10:30 p.m., Forsaking All Others ( 1934)

         Jan. 10- 8:30 a.m., No More Ladies (1935)

         Jan. 10- 3:15 p.m., The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1937)

         Jan. 23- 7:45 a.m., Private Lives (1931)

Enjoy! 

The Last of Bob's Ladies

Happy Birthday, Audrey Totter!  Congratulations are due Audrey who turns 94 years young today, proving that Bad Girls Rule!   

                                   Lady in the Lake (1947)

Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life

I have always liked this photo of Bob and Audrey Totter, mostly because of the look on Audrey's face.  It was some time before I noticed the bracelet Bob is wearing.

Bob also wore a bracelet during the filming of  They Were Expendable.  It is the only other time I have noticed him wearing it. 

 I some how doubt Bob was making a fashion statement.  Do you know the significance of the bracelet?  Perhaps a holdover from his military service or a token of remembrance from his family when he went overseas?  Always curious about everything Montgomery, and every once in a while I actually find an answer!  Once in a while...

Lady In the Lake

Film Noir of the Week has a good writeup on Lady In the Lake up this week.

It is a Christmas movie after all . . . sorta.

Two-gether

Continuing the birthday picspam-o-rama:

Virginia Bruce, The First Hundred Years

Marion Davies, Blondie of the Follies

Audrey Totter, The Lady in the Lake

Elizabeth Allan, The Mystery of Mr. X

Fightin' Norma Shearer, Private Lives

Leila Hyams, The Sins of the Children

Carole Lombard, Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Sightings

Some recent bits from around the Internet:

Free Movies on DVD is now offering Haunted Honeymoon and Ride the Pink Horse for sale. For those of you I baited with the 10 minute YouTube clip on HH, here's your chance to catch up!

Cinema Styles has dug up a fun photo I hadn't seen before from Blondie of the Follies.

And a tip from Laura's Miscellaneous Musings, an interview with Audrey Totter, including some interesting bits on how she was selected to star in Lady in the Lake.

Recurring Paintings in Hollywood Films

I love these. . . more from the creator of the Marly Horse video:

Photo (Poster) Friday - The Lady in the Lake

Poster from the Australian release of The Lady in the Lake. With thanks to Steve-O.

Large photo

Radio Style - The Lady in the Lake

Today we enter into the world of Philip Marlowe and The Lady in the Lake. This Lux radio adaptation from Feb. 9, 1948 is pretty true to the film version, just slimmed down. Robert Montgomery plays Marlowe & Audrey Totter is Adrienne Fromsett - just like in the movie.

42 Minute MP3 - 9.7 MB

The recording is missing the Lux opening and closing - too bad, that is sometimes the most interesting part to these shows.

Favorite line - I'm scared and it isn't wonderful anymore

L.B.'s Dream Factory

I read a bit of trivia recently about Lady in the Lake that cleared up a mystery for me--why Bob addressed the camera at the start and the finish of the film and faded with a kiss, especially since he was such an admirer of John Ford, who disliked kiss and fades. L. B. Mayer made him add the prologue and epilogue because preview audiences were confused and also mad that they saw so little of Bob on screen. They also wanted to see him kiss Audrey Totter, thus he gave in and added the conventional ending. He and Audrey thought the kiss was so corny that when they shot the scene, they couldn’t stop giggling, chalking up numerous retakes.

At another point during production Bob and L. B. Mayer were in the projection room watching rushes of Lady in the Lake when a close-up of Audrey came on. Suddenly Mayer sat up and jabbed Bob in the ribs and said “Why does her hair look like that?” Bob explained that in the previous scene, which hadn’t been shot yet, she’s awakened in the middle of the night, to which Mayer replied, "I don’t care if she’s coming out of the toilet, her hair can’t look like that. A Metro star must look her best, even asleep.''

Blue-Eyed Dough Boys

TCM has Movie News up on the Lady in the Lake DVD, by David Kalat. An interesting blurb yanked from the article:

Robert Montgomery had first come to Hollywood with the desire to be a screenwriter. "Yeah, I'm a top-billed movie star, but I really want is to write!" With his bland, somewhat doughy, good-looks and a vocal delivery that sounded like Cary Grant minus his distinctive accent, Montgomery racked up roles in over 50 films prior to 1945, settling happily into a rut as one of Hollywood's less-interesting performers. 1945, though, was when Fate struck a surprising blow: on the set of They Were Expendable, John Ford got sick. Montgomery filled in for him, secretly. He enjoyed the taste, and wanted more.

Can someone explain what the heck "doughy, good looks" means?

Related, Lileks.com has some fun comments on Audrey Totter's "in camera" glare.

It Gets Deep (no lake pun intended)

Put the recent DVD release of Lady in the Lake in the PC here and watched the audio commentary version by Alain Silver and James Ursini. I think this was the first full movie where I listed to the entire commentary. It gets deep.

Both fellas go through a lot of factoids about the actors as well as film noir. About 45 minutes into the commentary, I was burnt out. Me, the fact nerd. I started to balance my checkbook & listen in the background, which is what I'd recommend.

One piece of info that struck me as interesting is the scene in Adrienne Fromsett's bedroom with Philip Marlowe, right after his car accident. He's laying in her bed recovering, and she's sitting on the edge of it. The scene made it past the censors - they were both in one bed at the same time (ha!).

YOU and Robert Montgomery

A few screen shots from 1947's Lady in the Lake trailer.

YOU (huzzah!)

By now I have messed up the order of these...

One More DVD To The List

On my monthly run to Sam's Club, a run through their DVD section reminded me that the Film Noir Classic Collection Vol. 3 DVD set was released on Tuesday. The set includes the first release of Lady in the Lake on DVD. Mine is in the mail Amazon, so watch for a "review" of the goods in the near future.

Lady in the Lake includes a commentary by film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini as well as the theatrical trailer.

Oh yeah, there's other movies in the set. They include: Border Incident, His Kind of Woman, On Dangerous Ground, and The Racket.

It's one more Bob movie on DVD...

For The Library

Added to the Amazon Wishlist:

In the Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives

In the Picture: Production Stills from the TCM Archives offers a rare collection of B&W photographs taken on movie sets from the silent era to the 1960's, giving readers a glimpse of Hollywood at work in the Golden Era. Highlighting the energy, glamour and challenge of filmmaking, these production stills capture beloved movie moments both in front of and behind the camera. In the Picture offers a unique perspective on Hollywood history from the great studio productions of MGM, Warner Bros. and RKO.

Format: Hardcover 10 3/4 x 9 1/2, 160 pp and 143 tritone images
Publisher: Chronicle Books

Includes pics from TCM favs such as:

• Bringing Up Baby
• Dancing Lady
• Faithless
• Forsaking All Others
• Hide-Out
• Inspiration
• Lady in the Lake
• Night Must Fall
• North By Northwest
• They Were Expendable
• The Thinn Man
• Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
  

It's a bargain book over at Amazon - cheaper than TCM.

Masterpiece Editions

I'f you've bought photos from Jay Parinno before, you've probably seen this. They have another web site called MasterpieceEditions.com. I guess I had ignored the flyer in the past because I checked it out this time and voila, Bob pics. Do a search & you'll find five photos:

• Labeled as They Were Expendable - I'm lost on this one, it's Bob with a kid. She looks familiar...
  
• Two from Vanessa, Her Love Story (ugh)
  
• June Bride
• Lady in the Lake (mirror scene)

Reprints aren't cheap. They range from $20 to $50.

Lady in the Lake DVD Update (and more)

The latest from The Digital Bits web site:

“7/18 will bring The Film Noir Classics Collection: Volume 3 (including Border Incident, His Kind of Woman, Lady in the Lake, On Dangerous Ground, The Racket and the Film Noir: Bringing Darkness Into Light bonus disc) and the Warner Tough Guys Collection (which will include Bullets or Ballots, Each Dawn I Die, G-Men, Sam Quentin, City for Conquest and A Slight Case of Murder, each of which will also be available separately).”

Both are tempting purchases as box sets, although I feel that I’m drowning in DVDs. Haven’t spotted any preorder info on Amazon yet.

And if I may recommend...the Bits web site has a section devoted to classic movies being released on DVD. Check it out.

Home Decoration Ideas

I have this catalog here from Archival Photography, a place out of Allen Park, Michigan. This place sells photo reproductions of mostly lobby cards, with some movie posters & photos. Neat stuff - I have ordered from him in the past. Lots of 1930's stuff. His Robert Montgomery collection is thin though:

• Faithless - title card repro

• Lady in the Lake - window card poster, lobby card repros

• Night Must Fall - half sheet poster repro

Web site is at www.arch-photo.com. The online catalog isn't as good as the paper one...I think you need a decoder ring for the web site.