I love that description of Reeves as "The Shadow." Even "Kansas" the likable goof, was in shadow most of the time when Paulette was batting her eyelashes at him. I had a creepy feeling that if both of them lived through this, he would spend a lifetime agreeing with her. Maybe that is what both needed?kingrat wrote:Thank you, Moira and Rohanaka, for your wonderful discussions of Three Came Home. Moira was one of the posters who recommended this fine film, and TCM has shown it with some regularity. I've also enjoyed the comments about So Proudly We Hail, which is superb propaganda as well as a good film. By the way, Moira, I noted how Claudette got all the light in that foxhole shot, too. "And also featuring George Reeves as the Shadow . . . ."
Both leading ladies are definitely older than their boytoys, Claudette 11 years older than George Reeves according to Wiki. Paulette apparently took as much as 10 years off her age, but she's older than "the big yap" Sonny Tufts, who is right for the part even if he is not an especially good actor. I believe that what Cher didn't immediately respond to in Colbert was the ladylike quality she brings to most of her roles, which was something admired and valued by an older generation.
I agree about Claudette's "ladylike" manner keeping her separate from later viewers--though I would suggest that people look back at The Gilded Lily, Torch Singer, and The Smiling Lieutenant to see her frisky side. She always had enormous strength, as well as a gift for romantic comedy that seems to be a lost to subsequent generations, alas.
According to Burgess Meredith's autobiography (to whom she was more or less married during the '40s) and one I read about Erich Maria Remarque (her hubby from 1958 until his death in 1970) Paulette was always a realist, who carefully kept the best jewelry given her by her many admirers, carried it with her, and was very savvy about business and investment. Having been born extremely poor (Paulette and her mother were migrant workers at one point in their lives), who can blame her for being careful about money? One later performance by Goddard that I like: An Ideal Husband (1947) in which she plays Oscar Wilde's mercenary character, Laura Cheveley beautifully. Her very best role is probably in Mitchell Leisen's Kitty (1945), which pairs her again with Ray Milland. BTW, she left much of her loot to NYU and set up an Erich Maria Remarque-Paulette Goddard Foundation as well, which you can see here.kingrat wrote:Paulette Goddard's sexiness, even when she's playing a minx, is like the natural overflow of energy and vitality. She's one of my favorites, though I haven't seen many of her films. By the mid-50s she was only in obscure movies. What happened to her career?
Good call! I'd never thought of Veronica and Jessica as similar before, but they sure have a kinship now that you point it out.kingrat wrote:I had no idea Veronica Lake had the dramatic force she shows in SPWH. She's good in Sullivan's Travels and The Glass Key, but here she is powerful in sort of a Jessica Lange role.
