I hope everyone's enjoying their Christmas break. I also enjoyed watching The Lady Vanishes last night. This afternoon I'm going to watch another favourite of mine, A Matter of Life and Death starring David Niven and Kim Hunter.

I guess that when you say binoculars you mean the scene in the ships dining room where Barbara's character Jean Harrington watches through her hand mirror at the antics of the lady passengers of all shapes and ages as they try without any luck to attract the attention of bashful millionaire Charles Pike, played by Henry Fonda.

While this is going on Jean is giving a running commentary to her father, as you say it is brilliantly performed, and this scene alone should have won her the Best Actress Oscar for 1941.

Charles "Hopsy" Pike is the heir to a beer Empire, "Pike's Pale, the Ale that won for Yale." But he hates the taste of beer and is far more interested in reptiles, and is in fact sitting in the dining room reading a book entitled, "Are Snakes necessary?"
He is uncomfortably aware that there are hundreds of female eyes batting away at him as he tries with great difficulty to concentrate on his book, Jean starts her commentary:

"Not good enough, I said they're not good enough for him. Every Jane in the room is giving him the thermometer, and he feels they're just a waste of time. He's returning to his book, he's deeply immersed in it, he sees no one except, watch his head turn when that kid goes by, it won't do you any good dear, but swing 'em anyway.

Well, how about this one, how would you like THAT hanging on your Christmas tree? Oh you wouldn't, well, what is your weakness brother? HOLY SMOKE, the dropped kerchief !! that hasn't been used since Lily Langtry. You'll have to pick it up yourself Madam, it's a shame that he doesn't care for the flesh, he'll never see it.

Look at the girl over to his left, look over to your left bookworm, there's a girl pining for you. A little further, just a little further, there, wasn't that worth looking for? See those nice store teeth all beaming at you. Oh she recognises you, she's up, she's down, she can't make up her mind. She's up again, she's coming over to speak to you, the suspense is killing me. 'Why for heavens sake, aren't you Fuzzy Old Hammer I went to manual training school with in Louisville? Oh you're not, well you certainly look exactly like him, it's certainly a remarkable resemblance. If you're not going to ask me to sit down, I suppose you're not going to ask me to sit down. I'm very sorry, I hope I haven't caused you any embarrassment, you so and so.'

I wonder if my tie's on straight, I certainly upset them don't I. Now who else is after me? Ah, the lady champion wrestler, wouldn't she make a house full? Oh you don't like her either, well what are you going to do about it? Oh, your leaving, these women don't give you a moments peace do they? Well go ahead, go and sulk in your cabin, go soak your head and see if I care!"

Jean then sticks out a shapely leg which Charles trips over as he makes his flustered way out of the dining room. This is the first contact they have made since Jean dropped an apple on his head as he boarded the ship. So Eve now has her Adam, and that is just the beginning of the fun. This small sample of dialogue just doesn't do justice to this masterpiece of screwball comedy, with everyone in the film at the peak of their careers.

If you haven't seen it, then I hope that this extract will encourage you to seek it out. It is available from Amazon.co.uk for as little as £2.42. I have the Criterion Special Edition which is more expensive at £18.41, but it does have some great Extra's.

These include an audio commentary by noted film scholar Marian Keane.
An introduction by writer/director Peter Bogdanovich.
The original 1942 Lux Radio Broadcast of the film with Barbara and Ray Milland playing the Fonda role.
Scrapbook of original publicity portraits and production stills, and Edith Head's costume designs.

I am a big fan of The Lady Vanishes and have been since I first saw it as a kid. I remember freaking out when the camera panned down to the Nun's feet which showed that she was wearing high heels. She just seemed so sinister because you knew that she wasn't what she was pretending to me.

Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood starred together again the following year in Carol Reed's The Stars Look Down, a grim drama about a Welsh mining villiage, Margaret played Redgrave's restless wife.

She was Britain biggest film actress during most of the 1940's, her most famous films were The Man in Grey and The Wicked Lady, both opposite James Mason, who was our Number One actor at that time, and nicknamed, "The man you love to hate!"

For me, her greatest ever performance was in Cast a Dark Shadow opposite Dirk Bogarde, released in 1955. In this she played against type as a blowsy cockney barmaid who falls for the dubious charms of sinister Bogarde. When he asks why she didn't marry again after her husband died she quips, "I did think about taking another trip down the aisle again, until I discovered that it was the money bags they were after, and not the old bag herself!"

This was followed by a loud raucous laugh, she had already described her late husband's departure.

"My old man dropped dead behind the bar one night, I was pulling pints the next"

Her performance was a revelation, and brought her the best notices that she had ever received:

"This role is a triumph of talent over vanity. It reveals for the first time that inside the glittering star there is a real actress struggling to get out" (London Evening Standard)

"The best performance of her career, the performance of a genuine actress, not a Star." (Daily Sketch)

"The film is worth seeing for her performance alone!" (Daily Mail)

"In her long career Margaret Lockwood has never been so well suited in a part, nor can I remember her getting so convincingly into the skin of a character." (Daily Telegraph)

"Margaret Lockwood will surprise you. She plays the coarsely humorous wife with a razor-sharp tongue and a shred eye for cash with outstanding authority." (Picturegoer)

"A shattering performance!" (The Observer)

With her forty fourth film Margaret had finally won the respect she had always craved as an actress. Unbelievably, the film was a Box Office disappointment despite all of the acclaim. Even with a popular male leading man Margaret's days as our Number One Box office Star was over. She went on to do some wonderful work on stage, including An Ideal Husband, Lady Frederick, and two Noel Coward plays, Quadrille, and Suite in Two Keys.

Margaret's main reason for agreeing to appear against type as the coarse barmaid was the opportunity to work with Dirk Bogarde, and he was very keen for her to do it.
But she always felt that she was wrong for it, "Totally miscast, it should have gone to someone like Diana Dors." Her many loyal fans continue to respectfully disagree with her opinion, it was the performance of a lifetime. She didn't appear in another film for 20 years, when she played the Stepmother in Bryan Forbes, The Slipper and the Rose. One critic described her perfectly as "The best known and most elegant wicked lady of them all"

One of my favourite books which I re-read at least once a year is, "Once a Wicked Lady - A Biography of Margaret Lockwood" by Hilton Tims. This is a carefully researched, beautifully illustrated biography, laying bare the life of a talented but vulnerable woman for who the public still have and enduring affection.

Michael Redgrave's best film roles were probably as the shy, timid school teacher in The Browning Version in 1951, and the following year opposite Dame Edith Evans in The Importance of Being Earnest."

I watched Christmas Holiday (not very christmassy despite the title) with Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly on Christmas Eve. Considering how big a star she was in the forties I'm surprised she has been largely forgotten today.

Many Thanks for the great effort Walter especially after youve had a few festive drinks!Its much appreciated.I especially loved the quote from Barbara-just reenforces what a great film The Lady Eve was.

Afternoon Drama, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s3h42 from @bbcradio4 via @BBCiPlayerRadio

I found this fictional drama loosely based on real events or possibly not loosely!
Its about the behind the scenes on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis.Barbara Stanwyck even gets a mention in the drama!It will only be on the BBC RADIO IPLAYER for a limited period of time.I think you may enjoy it.I think its a repeat but all the same I enjoyed it and I hope you do too if you decide to listen to it.

I just listened to it, and I am sure that there is a lot of truth in it. There were three mistakes, Joan's adopted son was Christopher, not Michael. Bette referred to herself as an "actor," she would never have used that ridiculous term to describe herself. I really detest all that equality crap! Those ladies were ACTRESSES, and proud of it.

Also Joan said that she would pick up the Oscar for Anne Bancroft if she won. In fact she would have picked it up for all the other Nominee's who were absent that evening, apart from Bette.

It was certainly true that Barbara was the first choice for Mildred Pierce after her success the previous year in Double Indemnity. It has always been a mystery to me how Joan persuaded Warner's to give her the part, especially as she was on the skids after leaving MGM, and moving to Warner's at a much smaller salary. Of course that all changed when she won the Best Actress Oscar. I did like her performance as Mildred, but I do think that Barbara would have been better, more real and less of a victim.

I had a feeling youd want to listen to that play!
I very much agree I think Mildred Pierce was much much more suitable for Barbara whod have brought a lot more character nuance and grit to the role but alas it seems Joans persuasive powers won out at casting time!

Are classic film quotes something your very much immersed im?The golden era is teeming with excellent quotes.

Yes of course, there are so many in every great Classic film. One of my favourites, just about equalling Bette's marvellous quotes in "Eve" the same year, was Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. When Bill Holden as Joe Gillis says to her, "Say, you're Norma Desmond, you used to be in silent pictures, you used to be big". She glares at him imperiously and snaps, I AM BIG, it's the Pictures that got small!"

I don't go to the cinema these days, but I can't imagine that they're writing that sort of dialogue anymore.

That quote from Sunset Boulevard is absolutely timeless and classic!
Another favourite of mine is a Bette Davis quote from Non Voyager about the moon and the stars but as you say and as is so often the case with Hollywood the creative abundance and originality was much more prominent in the golden era.

There are still some good quotes in contemporary films but compared to the golden era theres a massive dearth of them.

Any favourite Susan Hayward quotes?

Oh boy, Yes!

She played real life singer Lillian Roth in I'll Cry Tomorrow. Her Mother has dominated her all of her life, the epitome of the worst type of stage mother. Now stricken with grief after her fiancée has died, her mother is still telling her how to run her life, and she finally explodes:

"You always knew when I was doing things that were wrong, even my first audition. Remember my first audition and all the things that I did that were wrong? Well, what I'm doing now is wrong, and I'm doing it! You always know what's good for me, how to dance, when to sing, what to wear, who to go out with. So what I'm doing now, it's not for my own good, and I'm doing it! "

Her Mother reminds her that David is dead, and that she has got to learn to forget.

"Forget! you wish that there was nothing to remember, you hated him, you think I don't know? All those phone calls you never even told me about, Lilli darling you can't go out with David tonight, Lilli dear, I wish you'd stop seeing that boy.

Well as far as I'm concerned he's not dead, I'll always remember, I'll never forget, and I don't care whether it's good for me or bad for me, or whether it's right or whether it's wrong, or whether you like it or you don't like it, and just this once, I WANT YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Susan was at her powerful best in this film, and she had the magnificent actress Jo Van Fleet playing her Mother. There was some really high class scenery chewing happening in this memorable film. Susan was Nominated for Best Actress but lost to Anna Magnani for The Rose Tattoo, which incidentally also featured Jo Van Fleet. She DID win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year, but not for this film, she won it for her role as James Dean's wicked Mother in East of Eden.

I'll Cry Tomorrow" is available on DVD, or you can seen the film in seven parts on YouTube, although I should warn you that the last few minutes are missing.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30631088

Sad news but obviously theres a main thread for this.The wprlds longest lived oscar acting winner dies aged 104.

I never knew she lived in London. RIP.

Yes she lived in the very plush and posh Connaughty Square I believe.

I think Id prefer the DVD version as I think a good ,fitting or poignant ending to a film with that valuable finishing touch is vital to the experience of enjoying and appreciating the whole film.

Susan Hayward sounds like shes at hee finest in real strong melodramatic stories were the emotional truth is pushed to the fore-Usually via a bubbling confrontation.Such a shame that Susan isnt appreciated more.

Yes, it is a mystery to me why Susan seems to have been forgotten. At the time of I'll Cry Tomorrow she was one of the most important actresses in Hollywood. Hard to believe that she will have been gone 40 years in March.

She did an OK comedy with Kirk Douglas, "Their Secret Affair, in 1959, and a not very good one with James Mason, "The Marriage Go Round," but she was always better in a good drama.

She did a very camp melodrama in 1964, "Where Love is Gone" in which Bette Davis played her mother. This was loosely based on the true life drama when Lana Turner's 15 year old daughter stabbed her lover to death. The two ladies tried to outdo each other in scenery chewing, and to the surprise of nobody, hated each other.

How old would Susan Hayward be now if she was alive?Was she of Olivia De Havillands generation or more say Angela Lansburys?

Was Lana Turner furious about this film about her domestic woes or did she tacitly encourage it or give it an approving nod?

I think from an actresses point of view having THEE Bette Davis play your mother must have been a dream come true for SusanDid she ever comment much on what it was like to work with Bette Davis?

Hollywood did seem to have a brilliant knack for real camp casting choices didnt it?

Susan would now be 97 years old, she was born June 30th 1917. Yes, she was of Olivia de Havilland's generation, being just one year younger. She was 21 when she tested for the role of Scarlet in Gone With the Wind under her own name Edythe Marrener.

I have never read of any comments that Lana made about Where Love Has Gone.

One critic sarcastically commented that Paramount were probably congratulating themselves on their good taste for not casting Lana in the role played by Susan.

It wasn't a dream come true for Susan, in fact the whole film was a nightmare for her.
Bette started meddling with the script, which was typical if her if she didn't have a powerful director like Wyler or Mankiewicz who wouldn't put up with her nonsense.

Bette's character was supposed to die but she insisted that she couldn't commit suicide with less than two pages of dialogue, so they flipped a coin on who would die, and Susan lost.

Bette wasn't exactly thrilled to be playing the Mother of an actress who was only nine years younger than she was, but she looked every day of her 56 years, while Susan looked young enough to convincingly play a bride, at the age of 47.

Also Susan had just remade her favourite film Dark Victory, now called Stolen Hours, and although not as popular as Bette's, far better in my opinion.

Many of her co workers thought that Susan was stand offish, but she was a very private person, and also extremely insecure. She wasn't matey with the crew, and would sit in her dressing room rather than mingle on the set like other stars.

On the last day of shooting Bette reportedly whipped of her grey wig, threw it in Susan's face and bawled, "F### you Susie!"

Susan really wanted Barbara to play her Mother, and what a dream team that would have been, the two broads from Brooklyn!

Unfortunately, Bette was bigger Box Office at the time, it was another year before Barbara would have a resurgence with her hit TV series, The Big Valley.

Its frustrating how often Barbara seems to have missed out casting wise to both Bette Davis,Joan Crawford and others.

Bette seems like shed fight rough and loudly tooth and nail for a role or part and that may have goven her the edge.Barbara seems too refined and nervous or shy to have these major passionate battles and feuds over career related matters.I also dont think Barbara would stoop for a role if you get my meaning like some others of the era are rumoured to have done!
Did Barbara feel that she was crowded out or overshadowded by the domineering large presence of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis?

Would you say that Susan herself felt underappreciated or overlooked in Hollywood or is it more an issue now were her fans such as yourself feel the collective Hollywood memory has largely forgotten her?

Bette and Barbara were very different personalities. I think that I have mentioned this quote from Barbara before, but it is worth repeating because it sums up Bette perfectly:

She was always so ambitious you knew that she's make it. She had a kind of creative ruthlessness that made her success inevitable.

Barbara was more philosophical about why she was no longer being offered the plum roles, as she said, "Nobody asked me, because America is now a country of youth. Anyway, you have to know when you've had your hour, your place in the sun. To be old is death in Hollywood, I think that is kind of silly. Just be glad that you can get out of bed in the morning.

Susan was even more private than Barbara, so I have no idea what she thought. She was still at the height of popularity when she married her second husband in 1956.

After that she seemed less obsessed about her career, especially when she finally won her Best Actress Oscar in 1959 after five Nominations.

I think the reason that she is not remembered today is that she died too young, but not young enough, so she never became immortal, like Marilyn.

Thank you for the detailed reply Walter

I think your analysis on why Susan is so often overlooked or forgotten is spot on but nevertheless its disapointing.But at least you as a passionate fan are in a position to keep flying the flag for her in this online world.

Who else in Hollywood was well known for being private male or female apart from Barbara or Susan?

I will be dming you tommorrow about your Barbara site tommorrow if thats ok

Garbo was probably the most private of all Hollywood stars, but I have my own theories about her. I have a feeling that she was such a self obsessed bore, with absolutely nothing to say. So the MGM publicity department had the brilliant idea of making her mysterious with that famous slogan, "I want to be alone!"

You may have guessed that I am not a fan!

It certainly worked, because although she made her last Hollywood film in 1941 she was still newsworthy nearly 50 years later when she died in 1990.

Katharine Hepburn was also very private, but she wasn't so fanatical as Garbo. She mellowed in her later years, gave many interviews, and came across as highly intelligent, articulate, and refreshingly, after all of her success, did not take herself or her magnificent career too seriously.

There is a nice web site for Susan, and a link to the site of Tim Barker, one of her twin sons where you can see family photo's of him and her grandchildren.

http://www.susanhaywardclassicfilmstar.com/index.html

Yes, please do send me a private message so that I can send you an invite to my Barbara Group. Anyone is welcome, it is worth taking a look at, we now have 180 members, and a grand total of 16,497 photo's. Here is a link for anyone who is interested, or just curious:

www.groups.yahoo.com/group/MissBarbaraStanwyck

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...ds-time-762144

Im not sure if this actor was on your list Walter but nevertheless sadly another actor from around the tail end of this era 1961 has died.Co Star Tippi Hedren has been leading the tributes.

Thanks for accepting me into your yahoo group and for the Susan Hayward appreciation link.

Rod wasn't on my list but he certainly should have been, a terrific actor, and one of the most handsome men in films in the late 1950's/early 60's.

He and Maggie Smith stole the V.I.P's from Taylor and Burton, and they worked together again in Young Cassidy.

R.I.P. Rod..

I hope that you like what you see in my Yahoo Group. At the moment I am working on one of my favourite films, "Christmas in Connecticut." I get the screen captures by putting the DVD in my lap top and clicking on any favourite scenes, this looks like being one of my largest photo albums in my group.

Incidentally, if you Google - "Ray trains for his second London Marathon", you can read about me in this week's Canterbury Times.

I will certainly google that Walter-Your becoming quite the local celebrity!Lots of respect for what your doing and your determination
Yes from what Ive seen so far Ive been very impressed by your yahoo group for Barbara Stanwyck.Would you ever consider starting a yahoo group for one of your other favourites and do you chat much on Yahoo with other film fans of other golden era stars?

PS Did you read about Zsa Zsa Gabor outliving her daughter Francesca Hilton? Im a bit sceptical about her husbands motives and some of his behaviour although I dont like to judge incase Im wrong but Id be worried now that Zsa Zsa has no one fighting her corner who truly has her best interests at heart-Francesca was the only one who seemed to be in a position to at least challenge him.

Running my one group is a full time job, I spend at least six hours a day working on it, and getting screen captures from a DVD can take at least a week to complete. I correspond in the group with members, and that has taken quite a few years to build up. In 2009 my group practically came to a standstill, and I almost closed it down. It wasn't until 2012 that it began to recover, and with some really dedicated members who contribute regularly, we are now looking pretty healthy in our eleventh year. Even so, out of 180 members, I probably have no more than a dozen of them who regularly contribute. Many Yahoo Groups break down because the Moderator just doesn't know how to motivate members, you can't go in to running a group unless you are dedicated and have plenty of spare time.

As for Zsa, Zsa, I am certainly sceptical about her husband motives, but as she seems to be immortal, he could have quite a wait.