100 Years With Bob ... Good Idea

 Of course there is a special appeal to seeing Mr. Montgomery lying down, putting ourselves in Virginia Bruce's place in the photograph.  But...it is a good photograph of Bob no matter the circumstances.  Such a handsome man.  And a good photograph of Bob and Virginia as well.  Sorry, I tend to overlook Bob's partners.  Bob is rather distracting.  

            Bob and Virginia Bruce in The First 100 Years (1938)

TCM update:  The Last of Mrs. Cheney (1937) continues to be available to stream until June 16th.  Recently added Hell Below (1933) is available until July 7th.  

A Little Color Added to Bob's B & W World

 I love it.  A movie about mosquitos, but you have an outdoor love scene without the ever present curse.  

The colored photos aren't that bad, but have never gotten used to the pink cheeks.  

It would be great if at least a few of Bob's movies were in color.  The Gallant Hours (1960) would definitely have worked well in color.  Bob wanted it to be, but the United Artists money people vetoed the idea.  Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) would be fun in color as would Piccadilly Jim (1936).  

Perhaps Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935) would have been saved if made in color.  With that kind of money sunk in the movie, someone surely would have spent the extra effort to produce a decent script.  Whomever decided to chop the movie down from 100+ mins. down to 74 without spending much effort to give it an understandable storyline, should be .... hung!  

100 Years ... No Way!!!

 "ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET." It's an ice cream cone race between, left to right, Robert Montgomery, Virginia Bruce, Director Richard Thorpe, Nydia Westman and assistant director Dolph Zimmer, who has swallowed his in one gulp and started on a coke.  The party took place on the set of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Wooden Wedding," in which Montgomery and Miss Bruce are teamed with Warren William in the leads. 

 Did you notice the reference to "Wooden Wedding" instead of The First 100 Years (1938)?  They must have changed the film's name at the last moment, you see the working title quite often on photos sent to the media.  I'm glad they did, Wooden Wedding just doesn't sound very interesting.  And poor Dolph Zimmer ... he's the assistant director and does not even get credit for it on the screen.  Nothing personal, Dolph, but I much prefer that than watching 7-10 minutes of a list including limo drivers, carpenters, assistant accountants and 25 executive producers.  There is just no middle ground in Hollywood. 

Have You Seen a Sadder Couple?

 My, goodness, Virginia ... You look like you're about to cry.  Is it the thought of another hundred years with Bob? 

Don't Forget Thursday's Montgomery Marathon!!

Yellow Jack (1938) is not one of Bob's better movies.  That is still no reason to mess up one of the better publicity stills with a colorization process that called for bright pink splotches on the stars cheeks. 

                            Bob, Virginia Bruce and Lewis Stone

I am looking forward to watching the movie on Thursday, particularly to hear a singing group featuring Andy Devine, Buddy Ebsen and Sam Levine.  A treasure folks...a treasure. 

The Promise In Her Eyes Was Worth the Risk!

For you very early birds ... The Secret Land (1948) is being shown this morning on TCM.  Bob is one of the narrators of this documentary, along with Robert Taylor and Van Heflin.  I rather enjoy just listening to Bob's voice (a huge plus for The Gallant Hours), but this documentary is hardly early morning fare.  Get that taping going and go back to bed!! 

TCM is showing Yellow Jack (1938) this coming Monday, another a.m. viewing.  It has been ages since I have seen this movie.  I had meant to watch it again before writing this post, but ... hey, so I forgot!  (I'm amazed I remember to do my twice-weekly posts!)  Anyway, critics knock the movie for inserting a fictional love interest in a semi-historical movie, which was unfortunately typical of the time.  And, of course, Virginia Bruce's mascara was not permitted to run, even though the movie is based in the tropics.  Then there's the criticism of Bob's Irish brogue, suggesting it was over-the-top and unnecessary for the role.  I would argue an Irish-American soldier in 1898 would most likely have one, but whether Bob's was good or not, I have to admit to a bad ear for accents.  I just enjoy hearing that voice. 

It is too bad movie heralds are no longer a part of the moving-going experience.  They made great souvenirs and were an interesting art form, summing up a movie in such a small format.  Note the header of the above page:  "The Strangest Tale of Terror And Mystery Ever Lived By A Man and A Girl!"  Your basic Hollywood hyperbole! 

The First 100 Years

In honor of one of my fav Bob movies coming to DVD, The First 100 Years, which only took 78 years to get to this point.

Happy Birthday, Virginia Bruce!

My apologies to the spirit of Virgina Bruce for getting this post in two days late.  Virginia's birthday was September 29th.  Virginia co-starred with Bob in Yellow Jack (1938).  Have always enjoyed this photo, an example of those great 1930s movie sets.  So much better than being in an 1898 Cuban jungle, with all the crawling and flying critters.

                    Bob and Virginia Bruce in YellowJack (1938)

Ran across a clip of Virginia singing in the movie Born to Dance (1936).  The song is "I've Got You Under My Skin" and she sings it to co-star Jimmy Stewart.  Had a nice soprano voice, helped by the always excellent coaching of MGM's Roger Edens.  You can see it here.

Surviving A Night of Deprivation

Our local cable system was down last night....aarrghhh!!  No computer and, therefore, no access to the blog.  No television, therefore no St. Louis Cardinals baseball.  (Yes, you can take the girl out of Missouri, but...)  It was all very frustrating.

Fortunately, there were a couple good things about being disconnected from the outside world.  Not being able to watch the Cardinals play, I didn't have to watch them lose their 4th game in a row.  They lost two more today, unfortunately the cable was back up. 

We resorted to watching two DVDs, picked at random. My husband and I are both old movie fans and can find something of interest in most movies.  The first movie was Joan of Paris (1942) starring Michele Morgan and Paul Henreid.  Maltin gives it a ***1/2 rating, we gave it a **1/2.  Tad bit too melodramatic for us, but enjoyed the supporting actors.  The excellent, short-lived actor Laird Cregor plays the evil German "Herr Funk" with relish.  May Robson effortlessly steals her scenes as the heroic teacher/underground leader.  Hans Conried appears briefly as a gestapo agent, he had such a great snarl.  And Alan Ladd, in his last role before hitting it big in This Gun for Hire (1942), plays a wounded pilot named "Baby."  It's always fun to watch future stars as they develop their persona.

The second movie was  Hired Wife (1940) starring Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Virginia Bruce, Robert Benchley and John Carroll who play in order: the sassy secretary; the handsome, clueless boss;  the gold digger; the best friend and inebriated lawyer; and the gigolo.  The cast is much better than the script, makes the movie watchable.

If you made it this far through my ramblings, thanks for the effort.  And since I feel I need to work in at least one photo, this is Aherne, an avid flyer, with his plane in 1934.  He's obviously where he's happy - and without the constraint of his hairpiece.  Besides, it's always the smile that makes the man.