Lana Turner at MGM

It's been a running joke that whenever the hubby catches me online he asks: "What's everybody talking about? Lana Turner?", knowing my particular fascination with her. So thank you, TopBilled, for finally allowing me to respond in the affirmative. I have to admit that part of the fascination is watching the gears turn as she acts, particularly in the later films. To my mind she's one of those actresses whom you never catch not acting, which is admittedly a kind of accomplishment of its own. Extremely professional, well-rehearsed, hit every mark, but also eternally self-aware, judging her camera angles, leaving nothing to chance. There are all sorts of stories of Dietrich fussing about her lighting because sometimes she knew more about it than the cinematographer, and I think Lana was also one of those actresses who were clocking things like lighting and props the whole time she was onscreen. It was almost always seamless, with no cracks in the facade, which is what makes her so fascinating to me, because she did it with such fluidity. It probably sounds like a dig, but I don't mean it that way. I'm not accusing her of being fake, only of a kind of detachment that allowed her mind to be in two places at once. It was a style which was more rewarded in her era than it is today, but that came from always being a "movie star", which was what the public wanted and expected at the time.

The Flame and the Flesh caught me by surprise because I'd forgotten its existence. Does it ever get shown? It sounds pretty lurid. I've seen Betrayed a few times, which was also shot in Europe, but I don't remember ever seeing The Flame and the Flesh scheduled anywhere.

Another interesting project which Lana filmed abroad is Another Time, Another Place (1958), an alternately silly and touching melodrama. She played a glamorous American reporter in England during the War (the silly part) who falls for British war correspondent Sean Connery, in a very early role. Turns out he's married and after he's killed doing his job her curiosity gets the better of her and she tries to surreptitiously visit his wife (Glynis Johns), who turns out to be charming and asks Lana to help her turn her husband's reporting into a book. Lana can't resist (It's a melodrama after all.) but when her secret finally comes out they have a falling out, which is ultimately repaired by Johns' forgiving nature. It was a British production released by Paramount in the States and she signed to do it at a time when her career hadn't yet been put back on course by Peyton Place. It's not a major part of her filmography, but nothing to be ashamed of either. It also came at a time when she was involved with Johnny Stompanato, who visited her in London and apparently pulled a gun on her and Connery on the set, only to be disarmed by Connery. Yikes, Lana. Enough with the abusive men.