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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:29:26 GMT
He's selfish enough to do so. The production code office wanted Dana Andrews' character to stay with Ruth Warrick's, so that Daisy the adulterer would not win a married man (even though the man's wife was a shrew and child abuser). Stupid production code.
Trying to salvage some traditional morality out of this one is ridiculous.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 16, 2023 20:30:07 GMT
Daisy has a crack-up with the car.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:30:35 GMT
I've always thought mean mommy was mainly mean because he was making her so miserable, and at the same time teaching the girls to be as smart mouthed as he is. I don't know, I see your point, but hitting the younger girl so hard in the head her ear now bleeds is hard to dismiss.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 16, 2023 20:31:58 GMT
Back for more.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 16, 2023 20:33:03 GMT
"Please believe me, I'm alright. I know what I want. You're both going back to New York."
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:33:51 GMT
My girlfriend would have dismissed him the second time he called her "baby," and maybe after the first time.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:34:46 GMT
Dan will have new girlfriend in under three months.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 16, 2023 20:36:36 GMT
I love how the two men experience just as much emotional turmoil and melodrama in this story as the woman does.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:36:49 GMT
Good for Fonda calling him "honey bunch." That's a nice blow.
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Post by topbilled on Jul 16, 2023 20:37:53 GMT
Peter's home.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 16, 2023 20:37:54 GMT
On a melodrama score, this one gets an 11 out of 10.
I enjoyed it thoroughly. Nice choice.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Jul 16, 2023 20:46:39 GMT
Fantastic ending!
They're both babies compared to Henry!
I loved his character, strong but very subtle about it. I hated Dana almost from the very first, so much it made me feel sympathy for the child abuser. I think she'll be a much nicer mother once she's not being belittled and humiliated 24 hours a day.
Great choice Topbilled.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 17, 2023 17:26:38 GMT
Daisy Kenyon from 1947 with Joan Crawford, Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda and Ruth Warrick
Daisy Kenyon proves the value of a major studio putting its full resources, including an A-list director and top actors, behind a project, as this juicy soap opera, in lesser hands, could easily have spiralled into silliness, but here it is a tight and engaging melodrama.
Joan Crawford plays a successful New York City commercial artist having an affair with a successful high-profile and married-with-children lawyer, played by Dana Andrews. Their relationship is relatively stable as she's independent and doesn't want to break up his home.
Not that things are good at home for Andrews, as his wife, played by Ruth Warrick, and he have a contentious relationship over his long absences "for business," she's not stupid, and their different approaches to child rearing: he's' the good guy, she's the disciplinarian.
Another wrinkle is that Andrews is a partner in Warrick's father's law firm. But since Andrews is the rainmaker at the firm, he has the real leverage.
Into that combustible setup enters a returning soldier and widower, played by Henry Fonda. Fonda begins dating Crawford, which puts heavy pressure on the Crawford-Andrews relationship, especially when Fonda asks Crawford to marry him.
From here the movie blasts off into what today we call tabloid-journalism territory but, back then, was fodder for the rotogravure section of the paper with a quicky marriage, public divorce, child-custody battle, car crash and plenty of guilt, alcohol and bitter exchanges.
It works because every scene is tight, whether it's Andrews belittling his father-in-law trying to use the business to score points for his daughter's custody battle or Fonda quietly outplaying smug Andrews over a set of unsigned divorce papers.
The dialogue is sharp, with each character landing their share of blows. Andrews plays the cocky guy accustomed to winning; Crawford portrays a strong woman growing increasingly angry, and Fonda is the seemingly unassuming one who is really smarter than the other two.
Crawford is in the sweet spot of her career at this point playing a woman having an affair, while also being chased by another man. Andrews is surprisingly good as the outwardly friendly guy with a vicious mean streak underneath.
In a smaller, third-billed role, this might not have seemed like a great career opportunity for a star of Fonda's stature. Yet artistically, Fonda's nuanced portrayal of a kind but emotionally wounded man makes his the most-engaging performance of the three leads.
The real joy in this one is watching Fonda's tortoise slowly overtake Andrews' hare. But none of this would have worked without director Otto Preminger's complete control of the almost unwieldy story.
Every scene is crisp and each transition is smooth as Preminger builds to a killer climax. A Douglas Sirk Technicolor version couldn't top Preminger's beautiful use of crisp black and white, which gives this soap-opera tale just a hint of menace at the right moments.
Daisy Kenyon is the product of a post-war Hollywood studio system still firing on all cylinders. With a big budget, top production quality, three stars near the peak of their careers and Preminger's total command of the material, the result is a slick and entertaining-as-heck melodrama.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Jul 17, 2023 19:22:47 GMT
One of the best we've watched!
We always have dinner immediately after watching the Sunday matinee (they're starving to death I tell you, it's tragic) and I usually can't resist talking about what I just watched.
Explaining Henry Fonda's character was impossible for me to do, Fading Fast's review describes it very well.
One thing I did tell them was that after watching Henry Fonda, in anything, I then can't imagine anyone else in the role. Robert Ryan could have played Dana Andrew's part, several good actresses could have played Daisy, but I just can't picture anyone else telling Joan Crawford he needed to kiss her neck and making her giggle like that. I wonder if he ad-libbed a few of his "drunk" lines.
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Post by Fading Fast on Jul 17, 2023 19:44:44 GMT
One of the best we've watched!
We always have dinner immediately after watching the Sunday matinee (they're starving to death I tell you, it's tragic) and I usually can't resist talking about what I just watched.
Explaining Henry Fonda's character was impossible for me to do, Fading Fast's review describes it very well.
One thing I did tell them was that after watching Henry Fonda, in anything, I then can't imagine anyone else in the role. Robert Ryan could have played Dana Andrew's part, several good actresses could have played Daisy, but I just can't picture anyone else telling Joan Crawford he needed to kiss her neck and making her giggle like that. I wonder if he ad-libbed a few of his "drunk" lines. "they're starving to death I tell you, it's tragic." LOL. It's usually a little before 5pm when the movie is over here and I live on the East Coast, what time is it where you are that the peasants are storming the Castle Frankenstein for dinner? What time do they normally eat? Don't they usually work, go to school or do something during the day so that you eat later than 5pm? (All meant in good fun.)
I struggled to convey how impressive Fonda was in the role as his performance is so subtle compared with Crawford's and Andrews'. It's also why I included that picture at the bottom as it said something to me about him. Also, it's one of the few moments in the movie when Crawford looked vulnerable.
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