Monday, December 4, 2017

Movies I Watched in November


This month wasn’t very earth shattering. The biggest discovery was Robert Ryan’s romantic side in Tender Comrade, one of his early roles. I liked the beginning scene so much I put it on YouTube:


I watched my first MacDonald/Eddy musical (and discovered I have record album of several of their duets). I also finally watched Bell Book and Candle. I mainly wanted to get screenshots of Novak’s tea set, which was later used in the tv show Bewitched.

* means a rewatch
  1. Rasputin and the Empress (1932) - John, Ethel, & Lionel Barrymore
  2. Thirteen Women (1932) - Myrna Loy, Irene Dunne
  3. *No More Ladies (1935) - Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Franchot Tone, Edna May Oliver
  4. Barbary Coast (1935) - Miriam Hopkins & Joel McCrea, Edward G. Robinson
  5. Men are Not Gods (1936) - Miriam Hopkins, Rex Harrison
  6. Rose-Marie (1936) - Jeannette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy
  7. The Gorgeous Hussy (1936) - Joan Crawford, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Robert Taylor, Franchot Tone
  8. Listen, Darling (1938) - Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale
  9. Four Girls in White (1939) - Florence Rice, Ann Rutherford, Una Merkel
  10. Tender Comrade (1943) - Ginger Rogers & Robert Ryan
  11. Vacation From Marriage (1945) - Robert Donat & Deborah Kerr, Glynis Johns
  12. A Letter for Evie (1945) - Marsha Hunt, Hume Cronyn, John Carroll
  13. The Window (1949) - Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman
  14. The Racket (1951) - Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Lizabeth Scott
  15. Glory Alley (1952) - Ralph Meeker & Leslie Caron
  16. Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) - Esther Williams, Victor Marture, Walter Pidgeon
  17. *When in Rome (1952) - Van Johnson, Paul Douglas
  18. Bell Book and Candle (1958) - James Stewart & Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Elsa Lanchester
  19. *Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) - Maculay Culkin, Catherine O'Hara
  20. Space Cowboys (2000) - Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, James Garner

I guess we can say my least favorite were the two movies I started and didn’t finish. I probably would have finished them but I was watching them the night before they were to be removed from WatchTCM and I was ready to go to bed. Kismet (1944) starring Ronald Colman did not have enough Marlene Dietrich in it. And Pagan Love Song (1950) with Esther Williams and Howard Keel was just too corny for the mood I was in. The whole “drop your kid off to live with the single white guy” was weird too.

I greatly enjoyed Vacation From Marriage, one of Caftan Woman’s recommendations. I really want to delve more into Glynis Johns’ filmography.

Accurate portrayal of me every evening (except it’ a space heater and I'm just wearing jeans and a t-shirt and the cat is black with white feet ;)

6 comments:

  1. Oh! I so want to see Rasputin and the Empress!! And Million Dollar Mermaid! What did you think of them?

    I saw a few movies in Nov., but not a lot. This month I will probably be rewatching a lot of Christmas movies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have always been fascinated by the story of the Romanovs so I’ve been wanting to see it for a long time. Lionel definitely stole the picture. As I watched it I kept thinking how it had only been 18 years since those events happened when they made it.

      Million Dollar Mermaid was really good too. I’ve only just recently started working through some of Williams films. Still have several of her most well known ones to watch!

      Same. December is when I have my most rewatches :)

      Delete
  2. I'm so pleased you saw the wonderful Vacation from Marriage.

    What did you think of The Racket? There are many parts of it I enjoy, but overall it didn't make a great impression beyond the great work by William Talman as the young cop. Have you seen the silent version? It pops up on TCM every once in a while and I'm crazy about it.

    The scene in Tender Comrade when Ginger and Robert are fighting is so real to me that I feel funny about watching it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mainly watched The Racket because it had Robert Ryan in it. I agree Talman was the best part though. No I haven’t but I’ll keep an eye out for it!

      Delete
  3. Dear Phyllis,

    This is a fine article! I saw that you watched your first movie with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Their movies are some of my favorites. "Bell, Book, and Candle" is also a favorite film of mine, but I'm not familiar with "Tender Comrade." Seeing that you have watched a movie with the Singing Sweethearts, I would like to invite you to join PEPS's upcoming blogathon. I, Rebekah Brannan, have not participated much in the blog world in the past, but I intend to become more involved now.

    I am beginning my participation with the afore-mentioned blogathon, The Singing Sweethearts Blogathon. This blogathon, which will be hosted around Valentine's Day, is celebrating the famous singing team Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

    You can read the rules of the blogathon at: https://pureentertainmentpreservationsociety.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/ring-the-assembly-bell-here-comes-the-singing-sweethearts-blogathon/. If you want to join, please comment and tell me your topic, if you have chosen one. I hope you'll join me in honoring this brilliant team and the holiday of love!

    Joyfully,

    Rebekah Brannan

    ReplyDelete