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Celebrate the Golden Age of the Silver Screen!
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SEPTEMBER 6
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in their first movie pairing. Sparks fly when sophisticated Kate and down-to-earth Spence get together. It's an uneasy alliance: she's ambitious, he's old- fashioned. When they wed, he teaches her what counts in a 1940s marriage. "The romance crackles with wit and spunk."--James Monaco. 1942 "Women should be kept illiterate and clean, like canaries."--Spencer Tracy's friend, Roscoe Karns
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Love at first sight?
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FYI The delicious story of when Kate and Spence get together for this movie includes her comment: "I'm afraid I'm a little tall for you." "Don't worry," director George Stevens said, "He'll cut you down to size."
The Hayes Office dictated that women weren't supposed to be ambitious or powerful. Thus the idea that Tess Harding is lacking because she doesn't know how to fix breakfast. We get at least three wonderful character actors in this movie: Fay Bainter, Roscoe Karns, and William Bendix. Ring Lardner, Jr. co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay. He was one of the Hollywood Ten, who went to jail rather than testify before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee in 1947.
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OCTOBER 4
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
After 50 years, this eerie sci-fi still grabs us. Kevin McCarthy battles against an insidious takeover of his town: as mysterious pods replace everyone, the result is deadly, soulless conformity. Don't fall asleep! "Haunting, strangely prophetic... a masterpiece of understated terror... effective and memorable."--Peter Bogdanovich. 1956 "Love, desire, ambition, faith... without them life is so much simpler."--the mantra of the Pod People
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A deadly struggle against the mysterious pod people
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FYI
This tale has engendered two remakes -- one starring Donald Sutherland in 1978, and another in 2007, starring Nicole Kidman. It's essentially a low-budget B movie, but its reputation eclipses the production values. It's a slow, modest, unnerving story, one that its director, Don Siegel, always insisted was solely about an alien invasion. No subtle undertones here, he said. Yet the timing of its release -- the Cold War, fear of Communism, lingering anger at the HUAC and the McCarthy hearings -- made and continues to make people believe that the theme is political.
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NOVEMBER 1
THE MORE THE MERRIER
When a housing shortage invades wartime Washington, Jean Arthur does her part by renting one of her rooms to Charles Coburn -- who rents half of his room to Joel McCrae. With this clean-cut young man constantly underfoot, the enchanting result is inevitable. "Endlessly rich... remarkably candid and funny and liberating."--James Harvey. 1943 "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"--Charles Coburn's philosophy, and thus the reason for all that happens in this movie
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Jean Arthur's apartment is hardly big enough for her, let alone two MORE people!
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FYI
You wouldn't think that the woman George Stevens called "one of the greatest comediennes the screen has ever seen" would hate the job of acting. How could she? She's so good, so much fun to watch and listen to! But acting was torture for Jean Arthur. Every take made her nauseous. Even so, she received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role as Connie, but lost to Jennifer Jones in Song of Bernadette. Director George Stevens and the movie also received nominations, but the only winner was Charles Coburn for Best Supporting Actor. This is the second of three movies Arthur and Stevens made together -- the other two are The Talk of the Town and Shane, two previous Silver Screen titles.
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DECEMBER 6
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Five grown daughters! Eek! The Bennet family is desperate. Thank heavens for Laurence Olivier, single and rich. But as strong-willed Elizabeth Bennet, Greer Garson finds him insulting. With a mind of her own, how can she ever find a husband? "Deliciously pert comedy of old manners... crisp and crackling satire."--The New York Times. 1940 Mrs. Bennet: Look at them! Five of them without dowries. What's to become of them?
Mr. Bennet: Yes, what's to become of the wretched creatures? Perhaps we should have drowned some of them at birth. -- Edmund Gwenn teasing his wife, Mary Boland
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Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier... so proud, and so prejudiced
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FYI
With four movies of Pride and Prejudice, one of Mansfield Park, one of Emma, and one of Sense and Sensibility, Hollywood loves Jane Austen. And this list only includes movies made for the big screen; television loves her, too. Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, just because of who they are and the characters they play, tend to eclipse the other actors in this movie. But we have wonderful character actors here, including Edna May Oliver, the presumptuous, pretentious Lady Catherine; Maureen O'Sullivan, who before and after played Jane to Tarzan; Mary Boland, who's so much fun because she's so dithery; and Edmund Gwenn, who we remember as Kris Kringle in The Miracle on 34th Street.
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