The Silver Screen Oasis

We all know his classics (DR JEKYLL & MR. HYDE, DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, A STAR IS BORN, NOTHING SACRED...) but here are some lesser known titles worth checking out, IMO:

When speaking of Fredric March and classics, let's include Design for Living and The Best Years of Our Lives, the latter of which I believe is finally on the way to Blu-ray. :)

I especially love The Eagle and The Hawk, and March is devastating in it.

Besides ALL the films Charles listed, these titles are also high on my Fredric March list:

Les Miserables
Smilin' Through
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
The Dark Angel
Anthony Adverse
I Married a Witch (just released by the Criterion Collection)
Executive Suite
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Inherit the Wind
Seven Days in May

That's quite a filmography. :)

While March is revered by (most) classic cinephiles (I am sure somewhere out there is someone who doesn't like him), he doesn't have the iconic status of, say, a Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart. Is that because he disappeared into his roles ("A Consummate Actor" indeed!), appeared in many different genres of film, and did not have an easily-grasped screen persona? That is what occurs to me when I think about him, which I do on a fairly frequent basis as some movie of his is always popping up on TCM -- or in my DVD player. :)

Here is another lesser-known FM film:

Professional Tourist wrote:Here is another lesser-known FM film:

True. Now how could I have forgotten that one? It's very good.

When I first saw "Tomorrow The World" I was amazed by Skip Homeier's performance. I thought he and March worked well together. An unusual film. (Always looked forward to Homeier as an adult actor.)

I saw "One Foot In Heaven" years ago and I remember that I enjoyed it but couldn't tell you any details.

If an "Act of Murder" is the one where he plays a doctor and his wife is ill then that was a very good film.

movieman1957 wrote:When I first saw "Tomorrow The World" I was amazed by Skip Homeier's performance. I thought he and March worked well together. An unusual film. (Always looked forward to Homeier as an adult actor.)

I saw "One Foot In Heaven" years ago and I remember that I enjoyed it but couldn't tell you any details.

If an "Act of Murder" is the one where he plays a doctor and his wife is ill then that was a very good film.

Yes, An Act of Murder is a film where a husband (he is actually a judge) causes an automobile accident to kill his wife who suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. It's an interesting early look at euthanasia. Florence Eldridge, March's real-life wife, plays opposite him.

Thanks for the clarification Charles.

I Married a Witch - 1942 Film




This Fredric March and Veronica Lake Classic is a gem of a movie and its really appropriate movie to see this time of the year when Halloween is at full swing of things. This is a romantic comedy - that is part fantasy and part revenge that really cast a spell of a witch that in a supernatural screwball classic ...

I don't know whether this movie is lesser known or not - but I just wanted to share about this movie and this is one of the March's great work in comedies.

Rita Hayworth wrote:I Married a Witch - 1942 Film




This Fredric March and Veronica Lake Classic is a gem of a movie and its really appropriate movie to see this time of the year when Halloween is at full swing of things. This is a romantic comedy - that is part fantasy and part revenge that really cast a spell of a witch that in a supernatural screwball classic ...

I don't know whether this movie is lesser known or not - but I just wanted to share about this movie and this is one of the March's great work in comedies.

Excellent choice and also very happy with the recent Criterion blu-ray and DVD release of the film.

kingrat wrote:I believe that One Foot in Heaven will air in the next few months on TCM--January, perhaps.

A 45-minute radio adaptation with the same stars, Fredric March and Martha Scott, was broadcast 20 April 1942 by Lux Radio Theater.

Count me in as another big fan of Fredric's - I can definitely add to the recommendations for 'Middle of the Night' in which he provided an exceptional performance as the man who finds love late in life (with Kim Novak, I think?).

He was excellent in a late role in 'The Iceman Cometh' (the same film has Robert Ryan in his final role, another big favourite of mine); and going back a few years he was a memorable Willy Loman in 'Death of a Salesman'.

He's not a name known to everyone these days but he was a decent leading man - 'A Star is Born'. 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', 'Anthony Adverse' as well as a fine character actor in later years - 'Hombre', for one. His only misfire was in 'Inherit the Wind'; a great film, but I just feel he is a bit too over the top as the lawyer fighting for the Word of God against the theory of evolution.

Still...haven't seen that Mark Twain thing! I never seem to get around to it! I MARRIED A WITCH is hilarious. Especially Benchley and Kelloway.

RedRiver wrote:Still...haven't seen that Mark Twain thing! I never seem to get around to it! I MARRIED A WITCH is hilarious. Especially Benchley and Kelloway.

Thanks for your ringing endorsement here!

Re: Some less known Fredric March films worth seeing

I have always admired Fredric March. I know I have some of his films, But I have not specifically set out to collect his movies. He just happens to be in films with actresses whose films I collect.

I have these

Another Part Of The Forest—Ann Blyth (30)
Smilin`Through—Norma Shearer (21)
The Barretts Of Wimpole Street—Norma Shearer (21) and Maureen O`Sullivan (40)
Anthony Adverse—Olivia de Havilland( 41)
Tomorrow The World—Betty Field (I do not actually have a Betty Field collection. I think I may have bought this film as part of a set).
A Star Is Born—Janet Gaynor (12)
The Affairs Of Cellini—Fay Wray (27)
Anna Karenina—Maureen O`Sullivan (40)
There Goes My Heart—Virginia Bruce (31) and Nancy Carroll (9)
Susan And God—Gloria DeHaven (24)
Best Years Of Our Lives—Virginia Mayo (34)