TO EACH HIS OWN

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mrsl
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TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by mrsl »

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This past ten days or so a lot of my favorite movies have been playing and this is one of them. Very shortly, Olivia de Havilland as Jodie, has a baby and through weird circumstances, the baby ends up being raised by her ex-boyfriend and his wife.

It's a sad movie in many ways, but with a silver lining at the very end. Olivia only ages about 20 years but her makeup makes her look more like 40 years older. Her clothing is atrocious, especially the silver or gold lame' gown she wears at the end. It adds 20 pounds to her, and it is awful!!!! It can be a real tear jerker and the very end never fails to moisten my blinkers, but throughout the movie, I get irritated at the silly way things are handled.

I would love comments on this one to see if I'm too logical or just hard-hearted.
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Anne


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* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

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Ollie
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Joined: January 18th, 2008, 3:56 pm

Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by Ollie »

I enjoy this one as well, and for all of our shared criticisms and opinions, all of those also make up part of my favorable opinions, too. I think the film's aging of her is amazingly correct with how Olivia actually did age, structurally, and I hope Olivia appreciated that. (Mostly, I just love that Olivia has stayed 'public' and gloried in her aging, giving me a greater hope for my own! ha ha)
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knitwit45
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Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by knitwit45 »

Anne I agree about the last dress she wore, but some of her other costumes were lovely, and very age-appropriate.
The little plaid jumper, when she was a teen working in her father's store, the "party" dress for the bond rally and dance, the FABULOUS hat and coat she wore to the hotel to confront Griggsy's other mother..all were really in line with what was being worn at the time. The dress she wore when she had Griggsy in her home was especially interesting. It was flimsy, and too much material for her, and she clutched at it continuously, worrying the material in her hands. It was rather symbolic, I thought, for her mental state at that period of her life. Very rich, very materialistic, but almost strangled by the dress, and the circumstances.

As she told the nurse, Daisy, when she was trying to figure out how to bring home her baby, life in a small town, during the teens of the 20th century was restrictive, small minded, and oppressive. So although the situation was handled rather strangely, it could have happened. Her papa was right about the baby's chances at a "normal" life, and it took some hard lessons for her to realize that.

This is the first time I've been able to watch the entire movie, and I really loved it. It's a definite tear-jerker, and I kept thinking of her in Hold Back the Dawn, comparing those 2 roles for some reason.
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mrsl
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Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by mrsl »

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Knitwit:

You're 100% correct about the clothing. I was really only thinking about that last gown (being in B&W, you couldn't tell if it was gold or silver), the rest of her wardrobe was great. You're also right about the Grigsy visiting dress, or lounging gown. I've had things made from that material and it always feels like it's going to fall off, or gape in awkward places, plus I think that was a little too big for her. Re-reading my post, I see I didn't differentiate that I was speaking specifically about that one gown.
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Anne


***********************************************************************
* * * * * * * * What is past is prologue. * * * * * * * *

]***********************************************************************
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knitwit45
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Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by knitwit45 »

Anne, to me, that dress was integral to the whole scene. She clutched at it the way she clutched at Griggsy. She was nervous, continually fingering the material, pushing it out of the way, pulling it back around her. Very telling, don't you think?
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knitwit45
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Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by knitwit45 »

aha! He sure knew the buttons to push for OH, didn't he? She was never better than those 2 films. No being overwrought, even though the cirmcumstances could have supported that. Just a lovely woman, caught in less than happy circumstances, and rising to meet those unhappy events, and triumphing over them. (Can you tell I really like these 2 movies???) :oops:
Ollie
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Re: TO EACH HIS OWN

Post by Ollie »

Listen. Stop. You cannot get me to admit I'm collecting Olivia films. Not now, not ever. Just because I have most of them, that has NOTHING TO DO with any need in me to collect her films. I'm still suffering from Kay Francis Collection-itis. So don't start on me about Olivia and giving me reasons to study what she's doing or wearing or anything silly like that. I just about positively maybe absolutely probably won't collect her films. Perhaps. I hope I've definitely made my likeliest excu - er, reasons.
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