Thanks, Wendy. You're right about We Were Strangers and Jennifer Jones. She handled that machine gun naturally. And thanks, kingrat, for bringing this film into the mix. And you're right about Jones. She managed to get beyond her "cutes", but still be able to use the in a more womanly mann...

Okay, my candidates for the most neglected studio directors are Lowell Sherman and Monta Bell! How many movie fans and auteurists can even name one of their films?

Hello, Friends. Comments on John Huston on the Raoul Walsh thread, particularly Kingrat's mention of We Were Strangers, led me to take another look at that film for the first time in many years. True, it is not one of Anjelica's daddy's best movies, but it is quite fascinating, particularly consider...

Where's the rest of me?

What I did, Theresa, was quit the Theatuh! For whatever it may be worth, you and Meg almost certainly get the best performance of my "career"!

Yes, it is an old critical belief, frequently held by very young people (you won't see me throwing any stones!), that to elevate one you must lower another. Fortunately, our opinions and assessments become more flexible as we get older. The late Andrew Sarris was famous for adjusting several of his ...

Well Red, he did camp it up. I once stepped into a one-act play about four hours before curtain time. There was nothing I could do with the part besides learn the lines. To my shame, I camped it up outrageously. To my amazement, the audience loved me! Not too long after that, I did the world a favor...

Yes, Goddess, the best thing Esther Williams ever did!. I never cared much for her (maybe it was the stupid movies she was in) until she started turning up in interviews talking about "the old days". What a treat to see that she is actually a smart woman with a great sense of humor!

Yes, Red, there is one. Although Mason always gave his best, even in execrable movies like 11 Harrowhouse. there was nothing he could do as a Chinese mandarin in Genghis Khan in the mid-sixties, except camp it up as Robert Morley did as the Emperor. The only bright spot in this one is one of the all...

Alas, Wendy, he gave his heart to television.

My old college friend (and Theresa's) Brian Camp posted an interesting article on his blog about Borzage's China Doll and Daniel Mann's The Mountain Road. http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/the-mountain-road-and-china-doll-rare-hollywood-films-about-the-war-in-china/#more-515 His focus is...

Griffith was memorable recently in a small important part in Adrienne Shelley's posthumously released Waitress.

Thanks, Goddess. It's still not easy to see, but maybe the new print that Wendy mentions will turn up on dvd. It's not a great movie, but it's very lovely and charming in a manner that we don't usually associate with the tough-guy Walsh of the forties. Joan Bennett is adorable, as she always was in ...

I hear you, kingrat!

Thank you, Nancy. I am really glad to be here and grateful to Theresa for bringing me into the fold!