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Post by topbilled on Oct 8, 2024 15:09:23 GMT
Yvonne De Carlo was originally signed with Paramount when she began her Hollywood career. But she didn’t get the breaks she needed to advance. In 1945 she moved over to Universal, where she achieved her greatest success. The studio put her in sensational action-pictures, westerns and noir. Sometimes she sang and danced in these pictures. Sometimes she was cast in more ethnic roles, due to her exotic looks; but she was still always very identifiable. That is, until she played against type as Lily Munster in the 1960s and reinvented herself. Then her career went in a whole new direction.
Check out:
CASBAH (1948)
BORDER RIVER (1954)
MUNSTER GO HOME! (1966) |
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 8, 2024 15:55:31 GMT
My favorite movie of hers is "Criss Cross," where she gives, IMHO, one of film noir's defining femme fatale performances.
My comments on the movie here: "Criss Cross"
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Post by NoShear on Oct 11, 2024 15:51:04 GMT
My favorite movie of hers is "Criss Cross," where she gives, IMHO, one of film noir's defining femme fatale performances.
My comments on the movie here: "Criss Cross" As TopBilled is an aficionado of both the written word and Yvonne De Carlo obviously, I'm guessing he really appreciated your FEDORALOUNGE review here, Fading Fast. |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Oct 11, 2024 19:02:07 GMT
Funny I just did a Google search starting with "Yvonne" and Yvonne Craig (Batgirl) came up first and then De Carlo. Now just yesterday I say Craig on Tales of Wells Fargo. Did my cable company share the info that I was watching Craig, with Google, and this is why Google had Craig come up first? (because clearly when it comes to fame De Carlo is way above Craig).
As for De Carlo's film legacy: the only must-see film would be Criss Cross. I have seen many of her Universal westerns (on GRIT or other western stations and not on TCM), and they are only OK films. This is mainly due to the lead male actor being only OK (e.g. Ron Cameron). Universal did have Dan Duryea under contract at that time so when Duryea and De Carlo are in a film, it almost makes it a must-see film for me.
Another film that gets close to must-see is Band of Angels but that is mainly for the interaction between Gable and Poitier.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 12, 2024 0:11:54 GMT
I kind of like the outdoor western films Yvonne De Carlo made with Rod Cameron. But she also made westerns with Joel McCrea, Rock Hudson, Van Heflin, Howard Duff, Dan Duryea and Rory Calhoun.
Universal was never going to pair her with their biggest male stars like Audie Murphy, Jeff Chandler or Tony Curtis, because she was considered equal to them in terms of box office appeal. The studio could multiply its profits by putting these four stars in separate vehicles. In De Carlo's case, she was often used to help promote new male stars like Hudson and Calhoun. Off camera she became very close friends with Hudson.
Most stars went to Europe after their Hollywood careers hit the skids. But she took a slight break from Universal in 1952 and 1953 and went to England to make some very good comedies. She worked with Alec Guinness, Peter Ustinov and David Niven in England. Those films showed she could expand her range, then she was back to Hollywood to do the next set of Universal action flicks.
For her, the crowning achievement was being cast by DeMille in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. And after that, she sort of left Universal for awhile to freelance at Paramount, Warner Brothers and MGM. But she would come back to Universal to make the MUNSTER movie in the mid-60s.
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