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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 31, 2023 2:44:35 GMT
November is "English Rose" month with two movies each from the distinguished English actresses Celia Johnson and Ann Todd.
Johnson is best known for the romantic gem "Brief Encounter," while Todd is known, in part, for the films she made with her famous husband, the noted director David Lean.
If there is a stereotype about "cold" English women, this quote from Ann Todd would seem to support it: But our movies prove the truth about English women's passions to be quite the opposite. [Kudos to Andrea Doria for, off the cuff, flipping out a better title for this month's movies, "British Women Go Wild," than I came up with.]
We start off our month with Ann Todd's "The Passionate Friends."
This Sunday, November 5th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, we will be watching and sharing our thoughts on the 1949 movie "The Passionate Friends," starring Ann Todd, Trevor Howard and Claude Rains
Based on a H.G. Wells novel, "The Passionate Friends" proves the famous author could write moving love stories free of the futurist themes he is most known for today. (The book is an excellent read, comments on it here: "The Passionate Friends")
In this tale, Ann Todd, Trevor Howard and Claude Rains form a love triangle that is smashed apart by a whirlwind of money, passion, jealousy, anger, deceit, betrayal, regret and, even, honor.
Link to the movie: "The Passionate Friends" (a very good YouTube copy)
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Post by topbilled on Oct 31, 2023 3:25:47 GMT
Thank you Fading Fast for providing such a good introduction for the November selections, particularly with this title.
I guess when I think about THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS, two things come to mind related to Claude Rains. First, he was on the downswing of his Hollywood career. He was no longer under contract with Warner Brothers and was freelancing at major studios, picking up parts where he could find them.
Rains would soon sign a multi-picture contract with RKO where he'd make three features for Howard Hughes, though none of those titles would do him any favors...in one of them, the noir WHERE DANGER LIVES, he's killed off fairly early in the story. So we have Rains facing limited opportunities in Hollywood films, going back to Britain and snagging this very good secondary lead role in THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS. Landing a plum role in a David Lean picture at this phase of his career was a very good stroke of luck. And Rains does a fantastic job with this opportunity.
The other thing that comes to mind, at least for me, is that if this were a Hollywood production, Ann Todd would probably end up with Trevor Howard and not Claude Rains at the end...no matter what H.G. Wells intended. This is because Howard is the younger, more virile male (translation: the sexier male) and it would ensure box office success in America. But Lean doesn't go that direction with it, and instead Rains gets the girl at the end, which I find very refreshing.
Some segments are bit too long and might have benefited from tighter editing...but overall, this is a very excellent motion picture...and I'm looking forward to seeing it again next weekend.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 31, 2023 3:46:47 GMT
That's excellent color on Rains' career. Thank you.
(Spoiler alert for those who haven't yet seen the movie yet) That's an interesting take on the different way it would have turned out had it been an American production. I'd go a step further and say Trevor Howard would never have been a leading man in Hollywood and the role would have gone to someone like Dana Andrews or Joseph Cotton. Howard was too thin and intellectual looking for Hollywood.
I agree, too, that some scenes - a masquerade party, in particular - would have benefitted from tighter editing. But heck, for a Lean picture to clock in at all of ninety-five minutes isn't bad at all.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 31, 2023 3:54:38 GMT
That's excellent color on Rains' career. Thank you.
(Spoiler alert for those who haven't yet seen the movie yet) That's an interesting take on the different way it would have turned out had it been an American production. I'd go a step further and say Trevor Howard would never have been a leading man in Hollywood and the role would have gone to someone like Dana Andrews or Joseph Cotton. Howard was too thin and intellectual looking for Hollywood.
I agree, too, that some scenes - a masquerade party, in particular - would have benefitted from tighter editing. But heck, for a Lean picture to clock in at all of ninety-five minutes isn't bad at all. Yes, I can see Joseph Cotten doing the part played by Trevor Howard. If it had been a David Selznick production, it would have been Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones and Claude Rains in the three main roles.
One thing that sometimes distracts me when I watch Trevor Howard is that he doesn't have a perfectly photographable face for a leading man. I am glad that he succeeded as a motion picture star, but I guess we get conditioned to seeing male romantic leads with chiseled looks and unmarked skin.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Nov 1, 2023 14:11:57 GMT
I happened to watch Trevor Howard in, "The Heart of the Matter," last week because I had just read the Graham Greene novel and wanted to see how something so introspective could be filmed (not terribly well.) He was very good in it, but like you two, I tend to expect a handsomer man in the lead. I think a very well modulated upper class voice weighs more heavily to the English audience than it does to us. That's the only way I know to explain many of their stars.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 1, 2023 14:37:22 GMT
Additional note: I think black and white cinematography helps conceal imperfections of the face/skin. In Trevor Howard's case, his leading man roles of the 1940s tended to occur in films shot in black and white. By the time he was appearing in (Techni)color films in the 1950s, he had transitioned to supporting roles and later character roles.
I apologize for dwelling on Howard’s physicality, as it probably seems shallow. He was a very fine actor.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 1, 2023 15:43:46 GMT
Something of the same could be said about Celia Johnson. I think she is a nice looking woman in the real world, but not nearly pretty enough for a Hollywood leading lady. Yet in England, she was a big star.
One of the things that makes "Brief Encounter" so good is its believability. You can see how these two - Johnson and Howard - drifted into a relationship. Neither is an evil person, it's just how real life played out for them. Having two not "Hollywood pretty" stars in the leads only adds to this believability. They both look like people we know or could know in our real-world lives.
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Post by topbilled on Nov 1, 2023 16:00:34 GMT
Something of the same could be said about Celia Johnson. I think she is a nice looking woman in the real world, but not nearly pretty enough for a Hollywood leading lady. Yet in England, she was a big star.
One of the things that makes "Brief Encounter" so good is its believability. You can see how these two - Johnson and Howard - drifted into a relationship. Neither is an evil person, it's just how real life played out for them. Having two not "Hollywood pretty" stars in the leads only adds to this believability. They both look like people we know or could know in our real-world lives. When BRIEF ENCOUNTER was remade as a TV movie in 1974, the producers cast more glamorous stars with international appeal. Howard's role went to Richard Burton, and Johnson's role went to Sophia Loren. However, this version did not fare as well with audiences.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0071247/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_8_nm_0_q_BRIEF%2520ENCOUNTE
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 2, 2023 2:59:36 GMT
Please join us Sunday, November 5th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, for "The Passionate Friends" to see these three stars painfully twist and writhe inside a love triangle.
Link to the movie on YouTube: "These Passionate Friends"
Here is a link to an even better version on the Russian site: "These Passionate Friends"
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 4, 2023 10:30:27 GMT
Please join us tomorrow, November 5th at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT (note, tonight, November 4th, is the end of Daylight Saving Time, so we roll our clocks back one hour) for "The Passionate Friends," to see why men's brains (well, mine anyway) go into some sort of vapor lock when Ann Todd is on the screen.
Plus you get to see her wear this cool hat.
Link to the movie on YouTube: "These Passionate Friends"
Here is a link to an even better version on the Russian site: "These Passionate Friends"
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Post by topbilled on Nov 5, 2023 15:52:09 GMT
In honor of this month's theme, I thought I'd post a photo of some lovely pink English garden roses:
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 5, 2023 19:38:13 GMT
The Continuing Adventures of Fawn and Me
Fawn: "I was thinking I'd take a month off from Sunday Live!"
Me: "Why?"
Fawn: "Just for a change."
Me: "It has nothing to do with me being this month's host?"
Fawn: [with exaggerated earnestness] "Are you hosting this month?"
Me: "Don't you remember, you were going to visit your family because I was hosting?"
Fawn: "Oh, that's not gonna happen."
Me: "Well choose: you can visit your family and learn again all the reasons why they're disappointed in you or stay here and watch my movie choices."
Fawn: "There's no third option."
Me: "Hemlock."
Fawn: "Hmmm"
Me: "Oh come on, you're not going to take hemlock; you love yourself way too much."
Fawn: [after a long sigh and dripping with disdain] "Okay, what movies did you choose?"
Me: [said with boisterous enthusiasm] "Slide over, center the popcorn bucket and let me know when you want some Sno-Caps as you're in for a month of movie magic!"
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Post by topbilled on Nov 5, 2023 19:50:22 GMT
Starting to get the sense that Fawn has had years of professional counseling...but still needs to see a therapist. LOL
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Post by topbilled on Nov 5, 2023 19:59:28 GMT
Today's film is a Cineguild production.
Some of the exterior scenes were shot in France.
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Post by Fading Fast on Nov 5, 2023 20:01:09 GMT
And we're off.
I'm surprised Todd got top billing as I thought Rains and Howard were bigger names and draws.
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