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Showing posts from March, 2016

Seasonal Pictorials: Happy Easter from Old Hollywood

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Doris Day is very happy that she found all of her Easter eggs. And she even found a little rabbit friend.   Vera-Ellen looks very cute as an Easter bunny. Though I'm pretty sure bunnies don't come out of eggs...   Here she is again with Mr. Easter Bunny. He looks a bit grumpy, doesn't he? Debbie Reynolds is more than ready to celebrate Easter. Paula Prentriss looks lovely posing with her bunny friend. Love her dress! Susan Hayward and her teddy bunny. Angie Dickinson gets in the Easter spirit. Shirley Temple colouring her Easter eggs. Pier Angeli had done a great job decorating her eggs. Look how gorgeous they are! Loretta Young looks just a tiny bit uncomfortable dressed as a Easter bunny. Ann Miller is very pleased with herself that she found a little bunny. Guess what she did with the bunny. «Easter Gree» from Jean Arthur. Don't people ever finish their sentences? Happy Easter, everyone!

Film Friday: Mildred Pierce (1945)

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In honour of Joan Crawford's (probable) 112th birthday, which was on Wednesday, this week on «Film Friday» I bring you what is perhaps the most iconic of her films, the one that gave her the only Academy Award of her career. Directed by Michael Curtiz, Mildred Pierce (1945) is the story of the eponymous housewife and mother (Joan Crawford), who devotes herself solely to her two daughters: snobbish Veda (Ann Blyth), and sweet-natured Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe). Mildred's main goal is to provide for Veda, who craves high social status and possessions her mother cannot afford. After her husband, Bert (Bruce Bennett), loses his job, they quarrel frequently and he eventually moves out to be with his mistress, Maggie Biederhoff (Lee Patrick). Faced with a stack of bills, Mildred takes a job as a waitress.When Veda ridicules her mother for what she does for a living, even though this work has paid for her expensive singing lessons, Mildred decides to open her own restaurant. With the he...

Film Friday: Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)

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For this week's «Film Friday» I have decided to tell you a little bit about one of my favourite films of all time, classic or otherwise. Because sometimes, «there is a moment — a long moment — when everything is risked with the proper stranger.» Directed by Robert Mulligan, Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) tells the story of Angie Rossini (Natalie Wood), an Italian-American salesgirl at Macy's department store who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a struggling jazz musician named Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen). She informs him that she is pregnant and asks him to recommend a doctor, whereupon he consults his current girlfriend, stripper Barbie (Edie Adams), but she jealously refuses to help him. Unaware of her pregnancy, Angie's mother (Penny Stanton) and older brothers, Dominick (Herschel Bernardi) and Julio (Harvey Lembeck), want her to marry Anthony Colombo (Tom Bosley), a shy cook and also of Italian extraction. Eventually, Rocky raises the mone...

Film Friday: A Woman of Affairs (1928)

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This week on «Film Friday» I bring you the first (and so far only) silent film I ever saw. It is highly implausible and overly melodramatic, but (surprisingly enough) I loved it. Directed by Clarence Brown, A Woman of Affairs (1928) tells the story of Diana Merrick (Greta Garbo), a young British aristocrat in love with Neville Holderness (John Gilbert), to whom she pledged herself when their were children. However, heir plans to marry are thwarted by Neville's father, Sir Morton (Hobart Bosworth), who disapproves of the Merrick family's lifestyle. Hoping to force his son to forget Diana, Sir Morton sends Neville on a business trip to Egypt. After waiting in vain for two years for Neville's return, Diana marries David Furness (John Mack Brown), who is also in love with her, and whom her alcoholic brother, Jeffry (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) worships. During their honeymoon in Paris, they receive a visit from police detectives, which ends with David committing suicide without e...