ISUZU YAMADA (1917-2012)

She appeared in at least 122 movies between 1930 and 1987, including works by Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse, and Teinosuke Kinogasa.

Alison, I first saw Leave Her to Heaven when I was quite a small lad, and I never forgot the two scenes you mention. Her work was shamefully underrated throughout the forties and fifties, in spite of excellent performances in Heaven Can Wait, Laura, Dragonwyck, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Where the Sid...

Yes, Alison, Far from the Madding Crowd was very sixties, as was Julie Christie at that time. She has continued to be a woman of her times and remains one of the great beauties in film. And true, there are actors who look ridiculous or at least uncomfortable in costume. One of the great experiences ...

This list of the oldest living movie people posted by our friend Brian Camp is already out of date. ACTRESSES: Carla Laemmle (1909), Luise Rainer(1910), Lupita Tovar (1911), Mary Carlisle (1912), Risë Stevens (1913), Anna Wing (1914), Patricia Morison (1915), Olivia de Havilland (1916), Isuzu Yamada...

I see what you mean, Alison. I tend to be less bothered by historical inaccuracies than twentieth century hair styles and overly fashionable filming techniques. Half the shots in Far From the Madding Crowd drove me crazy. If a Julie Christie movie is hard for me to sit through, I have a real problem...

Well, Alison, I haven't seen some of those Litvaks for a long time. Like Mayerling which is on my Netflix queue even as we speak. What I would really like to see again is the tv production he did of Mayerling with Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer. I do like costume films, even though so many are unsati...

Yeah, Theresa, Irving and Norma seemed to get along pretty well personally and professionally.

Now I'm thinking of Sternberg and Marlene, and Rossellini and Bergman.

Right, Alison, Gilbert was one of the greatest actors of the twenties, and I think he would have been one of the greatest of the thirties if he had not punched the odious and highly punchable Louis Mayer. I agree about Leisen, especially in the thirties, Hands Across the Table, Easy Living, Midnight...

Yes, Alison, I agree that Selznick was not really good for Jones' career, and I mentioned earlier that it was the same with Hearst and Davies. Now I am wondering who are the behind the scenes men who have been beneficial to their acting wives or lovers. Two come immediately to my mind, not consideri...

Maybe she did, Wendy, but according to "young" Leatrice she complained about him for many years.

I should have known, Wendy, that you knew Dark Star. There's not much I can tell you about Jack Gilbert. I was married for a long time to the young woman who researched the book. She got to meet Leatrice Joy several times. Apparently, in her old age, she chose to forget the difficulties and pain of ...

Yes, Alison, she was a wonderful Emma. Madame Bovary may be the only great novel to be well filmed three times, by Renoir, Minnelli, and Chabrol. There was also a BBC adaptation that I recall as being good, too. I can't remember who played Emma, but I think Tom Conti was Charles.

Wendy, the Gilbert biography Dark Star written by his daughter Leatrice Fountain is excellent, not "daddy dearest" nor a whitewash, but well-researched and well-written.

I'll take a look at that thread, Alison. I was just looking at Jones' filmography, and I was surprised to see that she actually played very few of those "nice girl" parts. I guess they made a big impression that colored my view of her later work for a long time. We live and we learn!

Right, Wendy, John Gilbert was friends with Monta Bell, Paul Bern (another subject for further research!), and Irving Thalberg before he was canonized. Bell directed my two favorite Gilbert roles, both from stories by Jack, the silent Man, Woman and Sin which also has a stunning performance from Jea...