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Post by topbilled on Feb 5, 2024 15:38:23 GMT
I'm biased but I think Anna Sten photographed better than any other actress in Hollywood. She was born in the Ukraine, studied theater in Russia and after she got her professional start in acting, she was sent to Germany in the late 1920s to work in the German cinema. She starred in a series of popular silent films from 1929 to 1932 and was already internationally famous by 1931. Here's a shot of her from one of her German pictures:
American producer Samuel Goldwyn saw her photo in a newspaper that was advertising one of her German pictures. He signed her to a Hollywood contract, but she did not know how to speak English at that time. So she spent the rest of 1932 and all of 1933 learning English and learning how to adapt her style for the American movie market. Goldwyn was hoping to make her the next Garbo, which was a mistake, because Anna Sten already had her own unique style and look and he should have just built on what she had already achieved in Germany.
Anna appeared in three Goldwyn films...NANA (1934) which was directed by Dorothy Arzner and cast Phillips Holmes opposite her:
...the next Goldwyn picture was an adaptation of Tolstoy's Resurrection, called WE LIVE AGAIN (1934) in which she was promoted as a passionate peasant, opposite Fredric March:
...and her final Goldwyn film was a romance drama called THE WEDDING NIGHT (1934) with Gary Cooper:
Goldwyn terminated her contract after this, and she went to Britain where her next picture was financed by her husband, Eugene Frenke. She had met Frenke, a doctor, when she was in Germany and he followed her to Hollywood. He was devoted to Anna, gave up his medical practice, and spent the rest of his career promoting Anna's career as a screenwriter and producer. They were married for over 50 years, until Frenke's death in the 1980s.
Back in Hollywood, she made a low-budget feature called EXILE EXPRESS (1939) with Alan Marshal:
This was followed by a supporting role in Fox's THE MAN I MARRIED (1940). Even when she is playing a "plain Jane" type with minimal make-up, she's still strikingly beautiful:
She had a starring role in Fox's THEY CAME TO BLOW UP AMERICA (1943):
And another one in CHETNIKS! THE FIGHTING GUERRILLAS (1943) opposite Philip Dorn:
She appeared opposite Kent Smith in THREE RUSSIAN GIRLS (1943) which was released thru United Artists and directed by Fedor Ozep, who had directed her biggest hit in Germany:
In 1948, Frenke costarred her with Robert Cummings in LET'S LIVE A LITTLE...this was a rare chance for her to do screwball comedy.
Compare this shot from 1948 with the shot above of how she looked in 1931, and you can see in 17 years, she didn't seem to age.
She would continue to make films with Frenke until the early 1960s and there were a few TV appearances. Anna Sten did not become the next Garbo. She just became Anna Sten in America, managing to blaze her own trail.
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Feb 5, 2024 19:52:04 GMT
Just wanted to comment on Ronald Colman - RANDOM HARVEST is one of my favorites, and I also like LOST HORIZON. Interestingly both stories came from novels by James Hilton. Also wanted to add my opinion on stars for next time - of course Dean Martin is on every list of mine - but here's some I think are good candidates. 1. Raymond Burr 2. Denzel Washington 3. Maggie Smith 4. Edmund Gwenn 5. Fay Bainter 6. Doorothy Malone 7. Ricardo Montaban Just my thoughts. The same could be said for Raymond Burr; He was the lead male actor in only a handful of films, by independent studios (E.g. Please Murder Me (1956), or Japanese films (Godzilla). |
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Post by christine on Feb 6, 2024 3:12:47 GMT
Raymond Burr was excellent in MY KIND OF WOMAN, REAR WINDOW and A PLACE IN THE SUN. His role in A PLACE IN THE SUN is what landed him, probably his most popular role as Perry Mason.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 6, 2024 14:43:59 GMT
Day six. One of my favorites. Michael Craig. Born Michael Gregson in India. Family from Scotland. He was raised in Britain and in Canada, which explains why he sounds more American than other British stars. He joined the Navy at 16. After military service, he started a career in the theater and doing extra (background) work in movies. Within two years of doing uncredited parts, he was signed by the Rank Organisation. Bosses thought he had the potential to be an international star. This explains why they gave him his first starring role in HOUSE OF SECRETS (1956) a proto James Bond espionage thriller. And yes, he looks very much like a Bond hero:
HOUSE OF SECRETS underperformed at the box office, so they tried him in other genres. He did a thriller with Laurence Harvey called THE SILENT ENEMY (1958):
They gave him facial hair and sent him to the middle east to make SEA OF SAND with Richard Attenborough:
He appeared shirtless or semi-shirtless in several scenes to accentuate his sex appeal in SEA OF SAND:
They put him in a Canadian western called CAMPBELL'S KINGDOM. Here he is having a good laugh on the set with Stanley Baker and Dirk Bogarde:
Then he played a detective in the social message drama SAPPHIRE:
He was back to being a ladies man in the farcical comedy UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS (1959):
He played a lawyer in another farce, this one was called A PAIR OF BRIEFS (sexual innuendo intended):
They finally gave him his best dramatic role, as a father on trial for the death of his young daughter in LIFE FOR RUTH (1963):
He had sex scenes with Susan Hayward in the remake of DARK VICTORY, called STOLEN HOURS (1963):
After his contract with the Rank Organisation ended in the mid-60s, he was allowed to freelance and take roles in Hollywood. He had a good supporting part in STAR! (1968) opposite Julie Andrews:
In the early 70s, his film appearances became less frequent, as he concentrated on television roles and work as a writer. His second wife was an Australian actress, so by the mid-70s, he had relocated to Australia where he still lives today. He continued to be active in show biz until the late 2010s. Michael Craig just celebrated his 95th birthday. As of this writing, he is one of the last living connections we have to the British film industry of the 1950s.
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Post by christine on Feb 7, 2024 4:46:49 GMT
I check in each day to read the information. Some of these actors I knew nothing about so I like learning new things about the history of films and Hollywood. I never knew there was a remake of Dark Victory, which is another one of my long list of favorites. I'd like to see that someday.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 7, 2024 13:06:04 GMT
Good choice; he was a very appealing actor. Michael also battled various giant Ray Harryhausen creatures in Mysterious Island (1961), one of my favorite Jules Verne adaptations.   |
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 14:10:03 GMT
I check in each day to read the information. Some of these actors I knew nothing about so I like learning new things about the history of films and Hollywood. I never knew there was a remake of Dark Victory, which is another one of my long list of favorites. I'd like to see that someday.
STOLEN HOURS is easier to find. It's interesting to see Susan Hayward tackle an old Bette Davis part. Michael Craig is a much better actor than George Brent was, and he brings more depth and direction to the male lead character. |
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 14:10:47 GMT
Good choice; he was a very appealing actor. Michael also battled various giant Ray Harryhausen creatures in Mysterious Island (1961), one of my favorite Jules Verne adaptations. |
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 14:12:30 GMT
Before moving on, I wanted to say that HOUSE OF SECRETS (1956) is currently on YouTube...and it's worth checking out if you are a fan of James Bond since Michael Craig's role is certainly a precursor to Bond...
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 14:58:42 GMT
Day 7. Patricia Neal began her Hollywood career under contract at Warner Brothers in a romantic comedy with Ronald Reagan called JOHN LOVES MARY in 1949.
It didn't set screens on fire. But her next role, opposite Gary Cooper, did.
The lead female character in THE FOUNTAINHEAD was intended for Barbara Stanwyck, who was bitterly disappointed when Jack Warner took the part and gave it to Neal, who was showing signs of promise and delivered. Off screen Cooper and Neal had an affair, which led to Neal becoming pregnant. Cooper never left his wife, but he did make another film with Neal.
Neal was reunited with Reagan for the critical favorite THE HASTY HEART (1949). That time she played a nurse who forged a special connection with Reagan and costar Richard Todd.
Neal then worked with John Garfield in THE BREAKING POINT (1950) which some consider to be among her best work.
Next up was a classic melodrama with Eleanor Parker & Ruth Roman:
In THREE SECRETS (1950) she was a career woman who decided against motherhood and gave her child up for adoption. She got on so well with director Robert Wise that she teamed up with Wise for a picture on loan out to 20th Century Fox. It had her playing second fiddle to Klaatu:
She did not return to Warner Brothers and stayed with Fox to make SOMETHING FOR THE BIRDS (also directed by Robert Wise) and DIPLOMATIC COURIER with an aging Ty Power:
She took time off from Hollywood in the mid-to-late 50s. She had married British author Roald Dahl in 1953 and the marriage, which lasted 30 years, produced five children. During her marriage to Dahl she occasionally acted in British films. In PSYCHE '59 she gives an intriguing performance as a wife cast aside when her husband (Curt Jurgens) starts bedding her younger sister (Samantha Eggar).
There was a Hollywood comeback with her role in HUD (1963), which led to an Oscar.
Shortly after HUD, however, her career slowed considerably when she suffered a stroke at the age of 39 and required time to convalesce. There would be a triumphant return to the screen in 1968's THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES...and she acted sporadically on television and in films for the next several decades.
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Post by christine on Feb 7, 2024 17:40:00 GMT
Wow, that would be interesting to watch Elizabeth Montgomery in Davis' role. I'll try to find the one with Susan Hayward - now my curiosity has been peaked.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 18:15:38 GMT
Wow, that would be interesting to watch Elizabeth Montgomery in Davis' role. I'll try to find the one with Susan Hayward - now my curiosity has been peaked.
STOLEN HOURS (1963) can be viewed on YouTube.
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Post by christine on Feb 7, 2024 19:34:09 GMT
- ohhh, and Anthony Hopkins I like! LOVE FINDING NEW THINGS ABOUT FILMS TO RESEARCH! Thanks for all the good info.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 8, 2024 15:46:43 GMT
Day 8. Robert Montgomery. From 1929 to 1947, he appeared in 50 motion pictures at MGM. During four of those years, he was off driving an ambulance during WWII...so he really made 50 films for Metro in a fourteen year period, plus he had some loan outs to other studios. This will give you a sense of how busy and how popular he was during those days.
At MGM he was put in big budget flicks and modestly budgeted programmers, alongside the studio's most important leading ladies. One of his most frequent leading ladies was Norma Shearer, seen here in a shot from RIPTIDE:
He was also paired with Ann Harding twice (on loan from RKO)...in the original version of WHEN LADIES MEET and THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BACHELOR GIRL:
Another leading lady he worked with more than once was Joan Crawford. They had a huge hit with the first remake of THE LAST OF MRS. CHEYNEY in 1937.
Around the same time he made PETTICOAT FEVER with Myrna Loy:
The studio paired with him Rosalind Russell multiple times...the most successful venture was NIGHT MUST FALL, which netted Montgomery his first Oscar nomination as best actor:
There would be another Oscar nomination for HERE COMES MR. JORDAN, on loan to Columbia:
A year earlier he made THE EARL OF CHICAGO, which was daughter Elizabeth's favorite of all his films. He definitely had fun making this cheeky gangster comedy:
Towards the end of the war, he returned to MGM to appear alongside John Wayne and Donna Reed in John Ford's patriotic drama THEY WERE EXPENDABLE:
He began to branch out into directing, but most of those assignments were at other studios in the late 1940s. His most critically lauded effort in this vein was Universal's noir RIDE A PINK HORSE, in which he directed himself along with Thomas Gomez:
There was also another noir, THE SAXON CHARM, in which he played a ruthless theatrical producer. In that picture, he costarred with Audrey Totter, Susan Hayward & John Payne:
After leaving MGM, he continued to freelance at other studios, acting and directing. His last motion picture as an actor was the British legal drama YOUR WITNESS in 1950. He then transitioned to television production, where he hosted his own anthology series Robert Montgomery Presents from 1950 to 1957. Over 300 episodes were produced of the series.
There would be a later film as director, THE GALLANT HOURS (1960) with James Cagney. He had also been branching out into producing Broadway plays. He had backed the original stage production of The Desperate Hours, selling the rights to Paramount for the story to be adapted into a film. But from 1960 on, he largely retired from show biz.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 8, 2024 15:55:31 GMT
Note: the shot above of Cagney & Montgomery is from a visit Montgomery made to the set of a Warner Brothers picture Cagney was making in 1940. I think it was the set of CITY FOR CONQUEST. I could not find a decent on-set photo of Cagney & Montgomery from THE GALLANT HOURS, when they obviously would have been older. One photo I found had them standing alongside Dennis Weaver, looking down at something on Weaver's shoe!
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