Photo Friday

I've seen this one float around before, but not with the signature. If you want to buy it, it's for sale on an autograph web site, for a couple thousand. I like how it's signed "Bob" - never seen that before.

From Green Corn to Guns

I'm a John Dall fan. "John who"?

Well, chances are you've seen him. He tried to tame Annie Laurie Star in Gun Crazy. Gave an Oscar nominated performance in The Corn Is Green. Helped commit murder in Rope. Was a Roman army commander in Spartacus.

No one else seems to remember him, so I will.

There's hardly any info out there on him except for the usual IMDB bio. His movies on DVD are harder than hens teeth to find - that and he really didn't make many films.

I picked up the Deana Durbin DVD Sweatheart pack to get Something in the Wind. Naw, I really don't care for the singing numbers. I think Amazon.com now thinks I like musicals. Set also includes Ray Milland & Robert Cummings, so it isn't a total waste.

Just my two cents for another forgotten actor.

Joan Crawford Showdown

If you were stuck on a desert island and had a choice between Susan and God and Dancing Lady, which would you want? Well, I'd like a third choice, but after watching both in the past week, I'd have to vote for Dancing Lady.

First off, Susan and God has to be one of the most annoying Joan movies I've seen. The only saving grace for the entire movie was Fredric March, who at one point threatons Joan's character with a chair. He should have hurled it. I had an hour invested into the movie so I kept watching it. I'm not going to waste my time here writing about it. Moving on...

Now Dancing Lady, that's a whole other story. I'd describe this movie as prime MGM. Franchot Tone is in it, plus Clark Gable, The Three Stooges (to my surprise), Robert Benchley, and Fred Astaire for a number or two. I'm not a big musical person, but the way they stage these scenes, it draws you in. There's one muscal scene where people from the 1800s walk from their time into the 1930's, changing their costumes and vehicles just by passing a wall. I know I can't describe it correctly here, but it's nice camera work. There's a scene where Joan & Fred Astaire are dressed in German outfits, you know, the lederhosen and blond pigtails. Wish I had a photo of that scene. Oh, another scene, where the women are singing about beer & pretzels. The camera goes from woman to woman where they look into the camera and sing/talk a line. They just sound so blah it's funny.

There's one scene where Franchot takes Joan to meet his family. He's wearing a white suit, white shirt, white tie & white shoes. For some reason I started thinking he was an elegant version of Boss Hog. Wow, Franchot has his own web site - www.franchot-tone.com

Nobody Pushes Bob Around

I ran into the web site for the Screen Actors Guild the other day & low and behold, a page for Bob. Not a whole lot of background, but I loved this blurb:

"A leading star at MGM -- signed in 1929 when he was 25 -- tall, debonair, recognized as one of the best-dressed men in Hollywood, "Bob" wielded considerable clout, and did not hesitate to use it. As Colliers magazine once put it: "Nobody Pushes Bob Around."

Go check out the site. I wish they had larger versions of the photos they have on the page.

Hello, Mr. Jordan, Mr. Farnsworth, Mr. Murdoch...

Finally watched Here Comes Mr. Jordan for the first time. I ended up watching it off my PC since the DVD had a non-US region code on it - I'll crack it one of these days. As mentioned before, the DVD was a bootleg off of VHS. I really can't complain - the quality was good & there were no commercials.

I guess my first impression of the movie was how different it is from typical 1940s flicks. It has a different spirit about it (literally). Can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the storyline, or the actors....I'll figure it out. Anyhow, I can see how it was nominated (and won) the Oscars it did.

James Gleason was a joy to watch - almost better than Edward Everett Horton, who had a smaller part than I would have thought. Makes me want to go watch Arsenic & Old Lace again...

I loved the movie. I hate to admit it, but I felt a little teary-eyed at the end. What's the word I want to use...heartwarming?

And no, I have no interest in watching the remakes of this story!