I am most curious about Along the Great Divide and Act of Love. Don't know how much of Kirk I can stand today, but I'm going to try to watch the westerns, these two films I've mentioned, and Paths of Glory, which I've never seen but always heard about. We'll see how far I get.
I just LOVED watching GLENDA FARRELL yesterday! I barely took any time out to do anything else!
What makes Glenda really great is something I've seen only a few BIG stars do. She takes a moment in each and every movie, whether it's a drama or a comedy, where she lets herself go soft. Her voice drops low, she lowers her eyes, and the soul of the character lets it's innermost fears or thoughts be known. It could be as simple and dreamy as Torchy saying to Barton MacLane "Gee, Steve, wouldn't it be swell to settle down and have a whole passel of kids?" Or it could be the look of fear and shock on her gal reporter's face as she opens the lid of a crate and sees a dead body - it rocks her so much she literally backs across the room - deadly serious. It could be complex, as in The Personality Kid, when Pat O'Brien realizes that she, as his agent (and wife), has made a deal behind his back for him to throw fights for money, and she tries to explain herself and her actions even though she feels enormous guilt. The great actors (Tracy and Powell are two who immediately come to mind) do this almost wordless downward glance, and Glenda is right with them, doing her own version. It comes in an unforced, tender manner, as if letting out a secret only they know. I think this is why I like her so much. There's a subtle womanliness under the bombast and fast talking. Whatever motivation that character has, that SOFTNESS, that wistfulness comes forth, hesitatingly, sometimes only for a split second, but unmistakably REAL.
Clair Trevor could do it too. take that little moment of revelation and make of it a shining example of good acting. But Farrell had to pick her moments from such slim pickings! How to make your character real in the midst of zaniness, now that's an art! I think Glenda and Clair are almost two sides of the same coin - they make it look easy. Though they worked in different areas, Clair in straight drama and Farrell mostly in comedy, somehow they seem related to me. Maybe it's that they both had an easy answer at the ready, even when their hearts were breaking, and they both were portraying strong women who lacked something in their lives that would make them fully happy. What do you think?
What I can't get over is how BEAUTIFUL Glenda looks in I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG, and how cold and vicious she could act. And yet, she had her reasons.... you can see it all over her, this woman wants security at any cost. Her Marie Woods has seen an awful lot of heartache to get to this low point in her life.
My favorite combination of the day? Glenda and Frankie McHugh. In Snowed Under and especially Mystery of the Wax Museum where they play a sparring boss and his star newspaper reporter. This has always been a great favorite of mine, but only recently have I really watched these two together closely. Here are some delightful quotes from them:
Florence: "Hello, light of my life."
Jim: "Well, well, Prussic Acid."
Florence: "As I live and breathe and wear spats, the prince."
Jim: "You been doing experiments with scotch and soda again?"
Florence: Where'd you get that news item, from a little bird?
Jim: "Yeah. Have a pleasant vacation?"
Florence: "Charming, more delightful people crippled."
When he says to her at the end of the movie, "Aww, Why don't you quit being a sob sister and marry me?" she looks wistfully out the window at the rich college boy who is smitten with her, that she could have at the drop of a hat, then turns back and says to him "You know what? Just to get even with you..... I will." and they kiss. Well THAT'S as close to perfection as you can get. Frank McHugh gets the gal Friday.Florence: "Listen, Joan Gale's body was swiped from the morgue. Have you ever heard of such a thing as a death mask?"
Jim: "I used to be married to one."
Florence: "Then it came to life and divorced you, I know all about that."
