sme
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Post by sme on Sept 1, 2023 20:37:57 GMT
Which silver screen "super couple" (a soap opera term) do you think had the best chemistry? And/or instead of it being a couple paired more than once, perhaps there is a one hit wonder that you would have liked to have seen more of?
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Post by Fading Fast on Sept 1, 2023 21:03:25 GMT
Welcome to the forum, you started a fun thread topic.
I'm sure, over time, we'll fill in all the classics - Tracy-Hepburn, Powell-Loy, Bogie-Bacall, etc. - but I'm going to start off with a one-hit wonder: William Powell and Ann Harding in 1933's "Double Harness." They had great chemistry, it made the movie work, but I believe it was their only star pairing.
While we tend to think of these as male-female pairings, one that is fantastic - and Hollywood knew it so they paired them in nine movies - is Joan Blondell and Glenda Farrell. Blondell usually played the sweeter of the two and Farrell the sassier one, but the fun they had together was obvious and infectious for the viewer.
P.S. For fans of our "Is That What You are Wearing" thread, note Ms. Farrell's super-cute beret look. As we've said, once you start noticing the beret, you find them everywhere.
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Post by intrepid37 on Sept 1, 2023 21:05:02 GMT
Which silver screen "super couple" (a soap opera term) do you think had the best chemistry? And/or instead of it being a couple paired more than once, perhaps there is a one hit wonder that you would have liked to have seen more of? William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies. Utterly delightful. |
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Post by kims on Sept 1, 2023 21:30:43 GMT
Deborah Kerr with almost every leading man she was paired with: Mitchum, Grant, Donat, Niven etc.
I'll pick her with Yul in THE KING AND I for the polka scene.
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Sept 2, 2023 0:59:50 GMT
For a one-hit wonder, I would say William Powell and Jean Arthur in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936).
Funny but last night I listed my top 10 favorite couples who had made at least 3 films together:
Leslie Howard and Bette Davis: The Petrified Forest, Its Love I'm After, Of Human Bondage
Humphery Bogart \ Lauren Bacall: The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Dark Passage
William Powell \ Myrna Loy: The Thin Man, Libeled Lady, The Great Zigfield
Cary Grant \ Katherine Hepburn: Holiday, Bringing up Baby, The Philadelphia Story
Fred MacMurray \ Carole Lombard: Hands Across the Table, Swing High \ Swing Low, The Princess Comes Across
Alan Ladd \ Veronia Lake: The Glass Key, The Blue Dahlia, This Gun for Hire
Errol Flynn \ Olivia DeHavilland: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Dodge City
Fred Astaire \ Ginger Rogers: Top Hat, Swing Time, The Gay Divorcee
Spencer Tracy \ Katherine Hepburn: Pat and Mike, Woman of the Year, State of the Union
Clark Gable \ Myrna Loy: Test Pilot, Manhattan Melodrama, Wife and Secretary
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 2, 2023 12:26:29 GMT
Another obvious one, so I'll get it out of the way, is Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who made more than half a dozen movies together during their long careers. Big fan of both, separately and together. They played both loving and antagonistic couples (and areas in between), but their chemistry was so real that it worked either way. There's a really good six-part documentary, The Last Movie Stars (2022), on HBO Max, directed by Ethan Hawke. It's informally done with lots of video calls, because it was obviously put together during the pandemic. It's based on tapes Newman made for a proposed autobiography, which he thought better about and destroyed. His children later found transcripts which survived and an all-star cast of actors give voice to a huge array of friends and co-workers of the Newmans. (George Clooney reads for Paul and Laure Linney reads for Joanne.) Warts and all is an understatement, but it's refreshing in its candor and is an unprecedented look at two movie giants. Scoping each other out in their first movie together, The Long Hot Summer (1958):  |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 2, 2023 13:13:14 GMT
I'm not sure this will qualify since they're not a "super couple", and I'm not even sure why it was one of the first things that popped into my mind, but I absolutely adore Elaine May and Jose Ferrer in Carl Reiner's Enter Laughing (1967). They play a theater "impresario" and his "ingenue" daughter who run a seedy theater company which preys on...well, basically anybody who walks through the door and is willing to stand on stage, in this case Reni Santoni (And Rob Reiner is there too.). Elaine's character is not above putting the moves on prospective" talent" and together these two double-team the auditioners to pay them for the experience, since they have to rely on donations at the door (It's The Depression.), which often amounts to pocket change. The lengths Ferrer and May go to to achieve their joint and separate goals, and the feelings they have to suppress in order to do so, are hysterically funny, at least to me. I'm not sure I'd need to see them together again in another context, but in this context they mine the humor for all it's worth and then some. Laugh my ass off every time.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Sept 2, 2023 14:50:16 GMT
Another obvious one, so I'll get it out of the way, is Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, who made more than half a dozen movies together during their long careers. Big fan of both, separately and together. They played both loving and antagonistic couples (and areas in between), but their chemistry was so real that it worked either way. There's a really good six-part documentary, The Last Movie Stars (2022), on HBO Max, directed by Ethan Hawke. It's informally done with lots of video calls, because it was obviously put together during the pandemic. It's based on tapes Newman made for a proposed autobiography, which he thought better about and destroyed. His children later found transcripts which survived and an all-star cast of actors give voice to a huge array of friends and co-workers of the Newmans. (George Clooney reads for Paul and Laure Linney reads for Joanne.) Warts and all is an understatement, but it's refreshing in its candor and is an unprecedented look at two movie giants. Scoping each other out in their first movie together, The Long Hot Summer (1958):
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Post by intrepid37 on Sept 2, 2023 15:32:03 GMT
"When you've got steak at home, why go out for a hamburger?"
- Paul Newman
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sme
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Post by sme on Sept 2, 2023 16:11:24 GMT
Thanks for all the interesting and thoughtful replies. And the lovely pics.  I'm going to have to rewatch some of these films to help jog my memory.
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sme
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Post by sme on Sept 2, 2023 16:12:42 GMT
"When you've got steak at home, why go out for a hamburger?" - Paul Newman |
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Post by intrepid37 on Sept 2, 2023 16:14:20 GMT
"When you've got steak at home, why go out for a hamburger?" - Paul Newman |
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Post by Andrea Doria on Sept 2, 2023 18:54:43 GMT
I'm not sure this will qualify since they're not a "super couple", and I'm not even sure why it was one of the first things that popped into my mind, but I absolutely adore Elaine May and Jose Ferrer in Carl Reiner's Enter Laughing (1967). They play a theater "impresario" and his "ingenue" daughter who run a seedy theater company which preys on...well, basically anybody who walks through the door and is willing to stand on stage, in this case Reni Santoni (And Rob Reiner is there too.). Elaine's character is not above putting the moves on prospective" talent" and together these two double-team the auditioners to pay them for the experience, since they have to rely on donations at the door (It's The Depression.), which often amounts to pocket change. The lengths Ferrer and May go to to achieve their joint and separate goals, and the feelings they have to suppress in order to do so, are hysterically funny, at least to me. I'm not sure I'd need to see them together again in another context, but in this context they mine the humor for all it's worth and then some. Laugh my ass off every time.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 2, 2023 21:56:32 GMT
John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara made five movies together. I haven't seen all of them, but just on the basis of The Quiet Man (1952) alone I think they're a great example of screen chemistry. Off-the-charts romantic vibes in that movie, even though they're fussing with each other for a lot of the time.   He also paired beautifully with Donna Reed twice, in They Were Expendable (1945) and Trouble Along the Way (1953). For a tough guy, Wayne could sure tap into a softer side as well when co-starred with these two women in particular, without sacrificing any of his signature heroic qualities.  |
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sme
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Post by sme on Sept 3, 2023 2:50:35 GMT
John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara made five movies together. I haven't seen all of them, but just on the basis of The Quiet Man (1952) alone I think they're a great example of screen chemistry. Off-the-charts romantic vibes in that movie, even though they're fussing with each other for a lot of the time. He also paired beautifully with Donna Reed twice, in They Were Expendable (1945) and Trouble Along the Way (1953). For a tough guy, Wayne could sure tap into a softer side as well when co-starred with these two women in particular, without sacrificing any of his signature heroic qualities. I love the scene in the rain that you pictured. I also love the scene where she sits in his lap and they sit quietly together. The look on his face...You're right, he had a gentle, softer side. I believe he was an underrated actor. |
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I'm going to have to rewatch some of these films to help jog my memory.