SPENCER TRACY - October, 2012 SOTM

[movieman1957]

Wendy:

You're right about Colbert. There is still a little bit of her old self going on in "Without Reservation" but it must have been "Since You Went Away" and "Tomorrow Is Forever" that helped change that sense of her. Though you could look as early as "Remember The Day" and find, because of the period, of the lady she would become.

[JackFavell]

Thats funny, I just saw Without Reservations a month or so ago, for the first time, and thought how she still had IT, especially as she snuggled up to Wayne or the scene where she gets drunk. But then it just disappears in her next few movies. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Since You Went Away and her other 1940's films, but the 'ooh la la' is gone.

[CineMaven]

A GABLE FOR ALL SEASONS



I spent a week looking at Sean Connery on the big screen, as James Bond. For my money ( and Raisinettes ) Connery is the only successor to Clark Gable in terms of being a man, a man’s man. His physical presence, swagger and manliness is overwhelming as is Gable's ( especially for our grandmothers. ) My dream Gable has a mustache and wears his hair a little longer. I loved his look in “GWTW” “COMMAND DECISION” and “MOGAMBO.” I literally can’t think of another actor that matches Gable’s masculinity, but this is just my opinion, and a humble one at that.

Wendy, I agree with you about Colbert. I never could warm up to her. Maybe I’ll get over that as I did with Jean Arthur who I’m now kind of crazy about. Colbert could toss a line really well; maybe it’s that tight hair do. Or a stodginess. I’m sure I’m missing something. But I thought Greer had it all over Claudette. ( Maybe I’ve got to see “CLEOPATRA” ‘34 again. The recent posts I read about it sounded interesting. Oh wait...you gals were swooning over Henry Wilcoxon’s legs.)

...but the 'ooh la la' is gone.

That made me giggle.

[JackFavell]

I think you definitely have to get ahold of Cleo 34! I think this is the Colbert you will like best.

As for those Gable photos....

swoon!

You are so right, only Connery has that oomph that says MAN about him like Gable. You put any other star next to Gable and they look like a wimp. Except for Tracy, or maybe Mike Mazurki.

[MissGoddess]

Yes, Sean comes the closest, I agree.

I've actually never seen all of Command Decision, only a couple of scenes.

I prefer Claudette in her early 30s movies, like the smiling lieutenant, torch singer, up to it happened one night. I don't dislike her later on, I just warm to others of her contemporaries more.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Yes, Sean comes the closest, I agree.

I thoroughly agree. If you don't swoon during the silliness of Darby O'Gill and the Little People, you are just not a gal that's paying attention.

I prefer Claudette in her early 30s movies, like the smiling lieutenant, torch singer, up to it happened one night. I don't dislike her later on, I just warm to others of her contemporaries more.

Torch Singer and The Smiling Lieutenant are some of my faves of Colbert and that era.

Cinemaven, get thee to Cleopatra, 1934! And thanks for the Gable pics...

[MissGoddess]

and i have yet to watch darby o'gill! i have to see that one and soon!

[CineMaven]

That’s a very fetching picture of Claudette Colbert. I do smile at seeing her left profile even in Ancient Egypt. And I do smile at seeing that statue looking more representative of the people of that region. Guess I’d better make my way over to “Cleo ‘34.” But I don’t think I can do “Darby O’Gill...” I don't want my Sean whimsical. I would recommend “Command Decision.” As for Mike Mazurki...whew! “I want you should find a girl.”

[Bronxgirl48]

Miss G., young Sean is so gorgeous in DARBY O'GILL, you'll swoon! (and when you're not swooning, you'll be terrified; this movie has very scary scenes that have stayed with me since childhood) I agree about Connery being the only real manly successor to Gable, who, by the way, I think has never really been given his due as an actor, despite winning the Oscar in '34. Clark in my opinion also should have won for GWTW and THE MISFITS. I've always thought Gable was an extremely natural actor right from the beginning. I adore him as Blackie in SAN FRANCISCO, plus love and find it fascinating that Clark is already being given icon-status camera shots (admiring Jeanette at the opera) three years before GWTW. The difference to my mind, however, about Gable and Connery is that when Clark aged, I feel he retained an essential likeability and sweetness -- he always seemed accessible, whereas the older Sean gets, I don't know, but there's a flintiness I find off-putting which for me kind of detracts from Connery's otherwise timeless, classic masculinity.

You must see the '34 CLEOPATRA! It's my favorite Colbert performance. She just oozes charisma from every bewitching, sophisticated, witty, yet straightforward pore.

[Bronxgirl48]

Jackie, I absolutely love your analysis of the March and Tracy Jekyll/Hydes. My personal preference is for Freddie even though I literally have to avert my eyes when he turns into Hyde, so frightening is that bestial visage to me. (the only other one in this category is the moon killer from DR. X) I can also appreciate ST's interpretation in the handsome Freudian '41 version. (where else can you see Barton MacLane as a Cockney mental case?) And, wuss that I am, I also find it hard to look at Tracy as Hyde, even though the make-up skillfully integrates in a more realistic way the alter ego's satanic manifestation blended with Spencer's natural features, so that combined he never looks anything less than human, yet the effect is chilling in its own way.

By the way, is anyone else terrified by Ed Begley, Sr.? This actor has always looked and acted like Mr. Hyde to me, especially in SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH.

[Rita Hayworth]

A GABLE FOR ALL SEASONS

This is the est picture of Clark Gable that I seen in years ... Could you someday use this an avatar at your time and choosing?

[charliechaplinfan]

Colbert became quite staid, the oh la la is the right way to put it, she became a woman and a mother type, not a lover, not a woman to be ogled at. I've read about her part in State of the Union in a few different books, mostly from Clauette's side but it is funny how Capra could let Colbert go just like that and not have a replacement, even though Spence's biography doesn't say I think Capra must have expected Kate to fit into Claudette's boots pretty quickly. I think Kate is great in State of the Union, her personality and not Colette's was the better for this story.

For this girl Gable has more sex appeal in his little toe than Connery has in his whole body, Gable had it big time, even in his last film, he had it, 100%. I don't get Connery, I see darkness and cruelty and no lightheartedness. Each to their own, I can't see it with Joe Wayne either but then I can see 'it' in a whole host of people that would make most people think me quite quirky to say the least. At least I see it with Gable so all is not lost for me.

[charliechaplinfan]

We still haven't found Boom Town which is rather frustrating but I'll move on so today I watched The Sea of Grass the only Kate and Spence film that I recall where Kate is so womanly and it's not at all a comedy. It's her film, even if she disappears from view for a while, now I can see how she maintained her attractiveness, when she allows herself to be more feminine it suits her down to the ground. I'm not sure she suited the wedding dress in the opening scene but every other outfit that Plunkett designed for her showed off her great figure and well, I could see what Spence and Melvyn Douglas could see. Melvyn Douglas, another actor who's never done a thing for me on screen, not in the 30s screwball comedies, he didn't have it, which made the ladies so powerful and not too easy to understand if they were pursuing him. Aged and put into drama, then I was really rather taken with him and he's found his niche for me, it's in drama. Spence, I felt sorry for him, even when I don;t think I should have, I had sympathy with his idea but of course as a woman I had more sympathy with Kate, leaving her poor babies behind. It's quite a long film too but it's kind of a gentle journey, one I enjoyed. Not enough of Robert Walker in it, another guy who aged fast when you think about his Bruno Anthony or Phyliss Thaxter bu twhat good casting for children of Kate's. I can imagine it's not everyone's cup of tea but I loved it.

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, Ed Begley Sr. is so creepy! I think for me, the real creep factor is that he is so realistic. He's able to convey a slimy feeling that makes you kind of sick to your stomach, a feeling of unease while making you believe he will do anything to get his way.

[MissGoddess]

It's interesting you liked SEA OF GRASS, Allison, because it is growing on me, too. I am puzzled by Tracy's character, I felt it wasn't developed enough to suit me, but the whole relationship between them is fascinating. Kate is great and it's quite a different role for her.