Yes it was, but as one reviewer on Imdb comments, "the stars equip themselves well with a script that seems half written!" Another describes it as "a reasonable film that wastes a magnificent cast. You won't miss a great movie if you don't see it, but you'll enjoy it if you do."

Another summed it up perfectly, "Blowing Wild only hold interest because of the star players involved. When you consider that back in the day, Cooper and Stanwyck did classics like Meet John Doe and Ball of Fire, Blowing Wild seems like something that they did while on holiday in Mexico. Everyone overacts outrageously to keep the film afloat. While the romance may focus on Cooper and Roman, it is Stanwyck who dominates the film. She maybe melodramatic, but she is somebody you never forget."

Cooper and Quinn, both missed the Oscar ceremony that year to perform in this little epic. Cooper won the Best Actor Award for High Noon, and Quinn won the Best Supporting Oscar for Viva Zapata. Maybe they did it for tax relief.

Even as a teenager, I realised that it was something less than an A film when it opened at the long gone Tivoli in the Strand in 1953. Normally with a cast like that it would have opened at the presitigious Warner cinema in Leicester Square.

Another post and yet again I learn something new!! I have never heard of Faith Domergue.

Just looked her up and I don't think I have seen any of her films either.

I love hearing about new actors/actresses, it lets you look them up, check their films and go off on a tangent.

Thanks Hilda

And thanks Walter, you always amaze me with your ability to link things back to Barbara Stanwyck - it's wonderful.

Just a heads up on BBC 2 tomorrow morning at 06:50 is Without Reservation starring my fav Claudette Colbert and John Wayne!!

Also on the Drama channel at 4pm tomorrow is Interlude with June Allyson, it doesn't get a great review but I think it looks quite good, lol

Had the joy of watching several Katharine Hepburn films this week for my MA dissertation.

I've watched Morning Glory, Sylvia Scarlett, Stage Door, Woman of the Year, Adam's Rib, The African Queen, Summertime and The Lion in Winter. Watching On Golden Pond tonight. There's some notable exceptions I know but I'll watch those in the coming weeks.

Summertime is my favourite. The cinematography is the star of the show, Venice has never been more beautifully shot. What has been wonderful to see is as the years went on, Hepburn got better and better in her acting. She was masterful in The Lion in Winter and I love the whole feminist feel of Stage Door. I really rated Ginger Rogers, she was great!

Could go on and on really but yes Hepburn was a wonderful actress.

I am curious what you thought about Morning Glory, because as a big Hepburn fan I thought it was awful. and her acting very dated, and not worthy of an Oscar.

My favourite of all her films with Tracy is Desk Set, aka His Other Woman, a very underrated comedy from 1957. They play two very strong personalities who clash over the computerization of a TV network research department.

I liked it but it's the least favourite of the 9 I've watched. I did like the Shakespeare sequence, thought that was good and the ending but I wouldn't class it as awful. She was still fairly new (probably not the right word) to Hollywood so still finding her feet.

Desk Set looks really good but my shelf can't cope with anymore DVD's Do you have any memories of Hepburn Walter? Or any anecdotes? What did people/audiences think of her and her films at the time?

I will never forget walking down Charing Cross Road on my way to work in 1959, (I worked in a bookshop that is long gone.)

I could hardly miss the woman marching along on the opposite side of the road dressed in a white pants suit. I think that I just stopped and stared, although I can't remember the reaction of anyone else. I certainly would not have dared approached her for an autograph as I know that he usual reply was, "Certainly Not!"

This was the time that she was filming Suddenly Last Summer at Shepperton.

Although she was still appearing in prestigious films (well, apart from The Iron Petticoat) she wasn't really popular with the public at that time. It wasn't until Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and after Tracy's death that she began to become a much loved public figure

There's something so special and appealing about some of the "cheesy" camp classics from Hollywood's golden era! 😁 Which are your favourites Ray?
Your knowledge of who is connected to who in Hollywood continues to astound me as I'd have reckoned there wasn't a Barbara Stanwyck link to be found here!


Sometimes the B movies of this era really stand the test of time!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Holliday

On this day in 1921 golden era Hollywood actress and singer Judy Holliday was born.
She won an Oscar for her role in 1950 film Born yesterday which also starred William Holden.

She died tragically young aged 43 of breast cancer in 1965

I love the B movies of the Golden Age. When Leslie Halliwell was the film buyer/scheduler for Channel 4 they used to show stacks of them.

The camp classic which immediately springs to mind is Lady of Burlesque (1943).

When I first saw Barbara in the film around 1948, it was screened under it's UK title Striptease Lady. maybe Hollywood thought that we wouldn't know what Burlesque meant.

Barbara plays a stripper who rejoices in the name of Dixie Daisy (real name Deborah Hoople). She is the lead stripper at the Old Opera House on the Great White Way.

For once she doesn't dominate the film, although she is fabulous in it. She is supported by the fabulous Iris Adrian as Gee Gee Graham her best friend, and with the best dialogue in the film. When two of the girls have a cat fight, Gee Gee pauses from drinking neat gin straight from the bottle to comment,

Ya know it's bad enough trying to do something artistic out there without listening to you and Dolly calling each other by your RIGHT NAMES!

In between their acts two of the girls are strangled with their own G Strings, the film was adapted from the book "The G String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee, who knew something about stripping herself.

In 1943, Barbara was at her peak, and looked much younger than her 36 years, she not only belted out a Sammy Cahn song, Take It off the E String, Play it on the G, but did the jitterbug, the Splits, turned Cartwheels, and did a really difficult Russian dance.

Another wonderful character is Alice Angel played by a real six foot showgirl, Marian Martin. She speaks in a baby voice and has a lisp, and when one of the Police officers mentions the latest killing, she hold up her hand in distaste and lisps, Oh pleath don't talk about the murder, ith tho gruthome. WHO DO YA THINK DUN IT?

All of the showgirls are really wonderful, and the only downside of this terrific film is Michael O'Shea, Barbara's awful leading man, probably the worst that she ever had.

It was directed by Wild Bill Wellman who I was lucky enough to talk to at the NFT in the early 70's. He said that Barbara was a dream to work with, and in fact he directed her in five films. He wanted her for a sixth film, The High and the Mighty, and for some crazy reason she turned it down. This turned out to be one of the big Box Office Hits of 1954, along with Three Coins in the Fountain, which she also turned down, preferring to travel to Mexico to appear in that load of old rubbish Blowing Wild, which I have already discussed this week.

Anyway, back to Lady of Burlesque, it is available on DVD, but none of the copies are as good as the print that was shown on BBC a few years ago. I just wish that I had kept it, and I keep hoping that they will show it again.

If you Google the films images, you will see just how stunning Barbara looked, and if they whet your appetite you can see the entire film on YouTube.

Someone got me this for Christmas. Loved it!

Great! I have never met anyone who hasn't enjoyed it, and another reason for anyone who hasn't seen it to get a copy, or watch it on YouTube.

Take a look at @ClassicalCinema's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ClassicalCinema/...647140865?s=09

The legendary Jane Russell would have turned 95 today!

In a previous post I mentioned Barbara's performance in Stella Dallas, a real tearjerker which got me thing about another weepie, Imitation Of Life, with a heart wrenching performance from Juanita Moore. Juanita was nominated for the best supporting actress oscar for her performance in this movie.

Any thoughts on Imitation Of Life or any other of Douglas Sirk's movies.

Incidentally Juanita Moore died in 2014 aged 99.

I love Imitation of Life, but then I am a big Lana Turner fan, my two other favourite Lana performances are in The Bad and the Beautiful, and Madame X.

Douglas Sirk also directed Barbara in two of her best 1950's films, All I Desire (1953) and There's Always Tomorrow (1955). The latter is in my top ten of all of her films, and was the fourth, and last film in which she co starred with Fred MacMurray.

Love Judy Holliday. Bells are Ringing is one of my favourite films.

manderley - Imitation of Life is a great film. The original starring Claudette Colbert is good too. I love Douglas Sirk movies, he really made films that gave actresses some real dramatic parts. I wish he had directed more.

Take a look at @ClassicalCinema's Tweet: https://twitter.com/ClassicalCinema/...372561408?s=09

Thought fans of Hollywood's golden era would like this picture /photo from MGMs canteen with some stars in it!

Sorry for the lull in posting been caught up with EU referendum fever but will start back to normal soon responding to posts etc 👌😘

What a great photo, and one that I have never seen before.

Glad to say that the lovely Ann Blyth is still with us, she will be 88 in August.

I always liked her, she was part of my childhood and teenage years. A very classy lady who has never had a bad word to say about Joan Crawford. She had her best role opposite Joan when she played her nasty daughter Veda, in Mildred Pierce.

Ann had a fabulous singing voice, as she proved in The Great Caruso, The Student Prince, and Kismet, yet oddly enough she was not included in any of the three That's Entertainment films.

Great picture. There seems to be a bit of a debate as to who's facing Elizabeth Taylor. Some think Burton others think Peter Lawford. Although, probably not Burton if it's the early 50s. Anyway, I believe it's Olivia de Havilland's 100th birthday tomorrow. Hope she has a great day.

Definitely not Burton, that photo was taken when Liz was filming The Last Time I Saw Paris at MGM, Burton was working at 20th Century Fox, I don't believe that they even knew each other in 1954.

Bette Davis once said that she rarely got to meet the stars from other studios, apart from big industry events like the Acadamy Awards. They usually socialized with the stars from their own studios, although she did say that she preferred the company of writers, as they usually had something more interesting to discuss than the daily rushes.

Duplicate.

Congratulation to Olivia de Havilland, 100 YEARS OLD TODAY!

Wow!
Awesome!

Happy Birthday to Olivia de Havilland