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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 6, 2024 11:01:33 GMT
This Sunday, February 11th, at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT, we will be watching and sharing our thoughts on the 1933 movie "Double Harness," starring Ann Harding, William Powell and Reginald Owen.
"Double Harness" fully leverages the freedom of being a pre-code movie to intelligently and thoughtfully examine how a single woman plots a marriage of financial necessity only to have everything turned upside down on her once she accomplishes her goal.
Link to an okay copy via the Internet Archive site: "Double Harness"
Link to a better copy via the RU site: "Double Harness"
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Post by topbilled on Feb 7, 2024 16:23:49 GMT
I love the fact we are watching two Ann Harding precodes this month! Yay.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 7, 2024 16:54:01 GMT
"Thank you, Topbilled." - Ann Harding.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 8, 2024 12:55:23 GMT
Please join us Sunday, February 11th, at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT for "Double Harness" to see how the sister on the left sabotages the sister on the right's marriage.
Link to an okay copy via the Internet Archive site: "Double Harness"
Link to a better copy via the RU site: "Double Harness"
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 10, 2024 0:51:33 GMT
I really enjoyed the TCM tidbit where Stretch Cunningham describes Ann as a little on the cool side, a little brittle. But there is a reason for his description - he had another in mind who would have been perfect in the part it seems. Always so great when we get insider information. Actor James Cromwell Talks About His Father's Pre-Code Film Double Harness (1933) TCM Session from 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=omZbS0gnrfI
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 10, 2024 10:55:41 GMT
I really enjoyed the TCM tidbit where Stretch Cunningham describes Ann as a little on the cool side, a little brittle. But there is a reason for his description - he had another in mind who would have been perfect in the part it seems. Always so great when we get insider information. Actor James Cromwell Talks About His Father's Pre-Code Film Double Harness (1933) TCM Session from 2014 www.youtube.com/watch?v=omZbS0gnrfI I enjoyed that interview very much - thank you for posting it. I had no idea that Kay Johnson - whom we saw on Sunday Live! recently in "Of Human Bondage -" was his mother.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 10, 2024 11:17:53 GMT
Please join us tomorrow, February 11th, at 3pm ET / 1pm MT / 12pm PT for "Double Harness," to see Ann Harding desperately try to untangle the web she wove when she deceived nice guy William Powell.
Plus, Ann gets to wear a bunch of cool hats, including this one:
Link to an okay copy via the Internet Archive site: "Double Harness"
Link to a better copy via the RU site: "Double Harness"
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Feb 10, 2024 15:15:27 GMT
I had no idea that Kay Johnson - whom we saw on Sunday Live! recently in "Of Human Bondage -" was his mother. We also forgot about his father, the director, John Cromwell. I really must buckle down and stop having so much fun. Speaking of which....
I can't image having Madam Satan as your mother.
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Post by topbilled on Feb 10, 2024 22:22:15 GMT
Since we're on the subject of Ann Harding, has anyone seen THE FLAME WITHIN (1935)? It's an MGM melodrama she made after the enforcement of the production code. I have it on a disc with DOUBLE HARNESS, and I am re-watching it at the moment.
It's interesting to see Harding try to subvert the code in how she's playing an accomplished career woman in this movie. As an actress who has read the last page of the script, she knows her character will be forced by the end of the story to give up her practice as a doctor to take on household duties for fiancé Herbert Marshall.
She spends much of the movie emphasizing the freedom her character has a single woman, which obviously will be lost in the last scene. The production code office is not going to allow a woman to be happy unless there is marriage and children in the offing.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 10, 2024 22:58:43 GMT
Since we're on the subject of Ann Harding, has anyone seen THE FLAME WITHIN (1935)? It's an MGM melodrama she made after the enforcement of the production code. I have it on a disc with DOUBLE HARNESS, and I am re-watching it at the moment.
It's interesting to see Harding try to subvert the code in how she's playing an accomplished career woman in this movie. As an actress who has read the last page of the script, she knows her character will be forced by the end of the story to give up her practice as a doctor to take on household duties for fiancé Herbert Marshall.
She spends much of the movie emphasizing the freedom her character has a single woman, which obviously will be lost in the last scene. The production code office is not going to allow a woman to be happy unless there is marriage and children in the offing. I have and, from memory, concur with your comments. The final scene is painful to watch. That said, once again, Maureen O'Sullivan did well in a major supporting role.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Feb 10, 2024 23:02:13 GMT
I know Ann Harding best from, "Peter Ibbetson" where she was almost literally an angel, and, "The Animal Kingdom," where she was that rare thing, the "other woman" who was more honest and had better morals than the wife. I don't think I've ever seen her be deceitful. I'm looking forward to it!
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Post by topbilled on Feb 11, 2024 3:31:37 GMT
I just watched DOUBLE HARNESS ahead of our screening tomorrow, because I wanted to re-familiarize myself with it. I think this is a film that I understand more with the passing of time...I must have been quite immature the first time I ever saw it!...I gained a lot from watching it tonight.
I hope everyone enjoys it. So glad Fading Fast chose this classic precode!
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Post by BunnyWhit on Feb 11, 2024 16:14:25 GMT
At first, FadingFast, I thought that rooftop was something sticking out of Ann's hat, and the scenery behind Lucile Browne was a pompom! I put on glasses, and now I can see that you are right -- cute hat!
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 11, 2024 16:42:00 GMT
At first, FadingFast, I thought that rooftop was something sticking out of Ann's hat, and the scenery behind Lucile Browne was a pompom! I put on glasses, and now I can see that you are right -- cute hat! You must be younger than I am, I don't even attempt details like that without putting my reading glasses on first.
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Post by Fading Fast on Feb 11, 2024 19:31:40 GMT
The Continuing Adventures of Fawn and Me
Me: "No!"
Fawn: "Why not?"
Me: "Remember the time you saw 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' and you talked me into letting you dye your fur blonde?"
Fawn: "That wasn't so bad."
Me: "You looked like a fawn-shaped tennis ball. You're forgetting the tears and the trip back to the hair stylist to dye it back to your natural color. It was never really right again until it grew out."
Fawn: "But this would just be a permanent."
Me: "Do you hear yourself?"
Fawn: "But tightly bunched curls look so good on Norma Shearer."
Me: "Do they really? You know that's naturally how her hair is and I'll bet she hates it. You have beautiful fur, let's leave it alone."
Fawn: "That's your answer to everything."
Me: "I'll tell you what, we'll get out the curling iron after the movie and see what we can do, but that's it."
Fawn: "That could be fun."
Me: "You're going to have to stand real still or you'll get burned."
Fawn: "I'll be a statue."
Me: "What if we hear a loud noise as you usually shoot twenty paces when you hear a loud noise?"
Fawn: [mumbling] "That could be a problem."
Me: "We'll figure it out. Let's settle in for today's movie, 'Double Harness', with William Powell and Ann Harding."
Fawn: "I wonder how Ann will be doing her hair in this one?"
Me: "Really?"
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