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Post by topbilled on Sept 26, 2023 16:11:13 GMT
In October our theme will be Gothic Melodramas.
We're starting with this classic Universal adaptation of Hawthorne's novel:
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Post by Andrea Doria on Sept 26, 2023 21:50:58 GMT
This is wonderful! I love Gothics and although I read The House of the Seven Gables a long time ago I've never seen the movie.
PLUS!
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Post by topbilled on Sept 29, 2023 4:06:12 GMT
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 1, 2023 17:27:13 GMT
This is wonderful! I love Gothics and although I read The House of the Seven Gables a long time ago I've never seen the movie.
PLUS!
I was super excited to see that "our girl" Lindsay is in it.
I watched it last night as I didn't want the "pressure" of watching it for the first time in decades this afternoon.
All I'll say now is I really enjoyed it.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 17:38:45 GMT
I also pre-watched it, if that's a word. I enjoyed it immensely.
The book was originally published in the spring of 1851 and in its first year it outsold the author's previous work (The Scarlet Letter). Apparently, it was a big hit in England, where the writing style was compared to the Brontes.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 17:53:40 GMT
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 18:26:31 GMT
Before our group screening in a little while, I want to offer up a few thoughts about the casting...
First, I love Margaret Lindsay and think she gives a very capable performance. But I started to wonder if maybe Martha Scott would have been equally good in the lead female role as Hepzibah Pyncheon as a counterpoint to her work the same year in OUR TOWN...Miss Scott was always very interesting playing simple heroines in potentially tragic situations.
Vincent Price was a last-minute replacement for Robert Cummings who bowed out due to illness. Thank goodness. Price is fantastic and I think the part of the imprisoned Clifford Pyncheon would have been rather lifeless with Cummings. It needed more than just someone who looked good on camera. It needed someone like Price who could add gray shadings and unfathomable inner conflict.
George Sanders was borrowed from his home studio, 20th Century Fox. A short time earlier, Universal had used him in a jungle adventure picture called GREEN HELL, which was released when THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES was in production. Vincent Price had a minor supporting role in GREEN HELL, so this was the second time he and George Sanders had been in a film together. They would costar on screen two more times...in Fox's FOREVER AMBER (1947) and in RKO's WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956). Contrary to rumors, Price claimed he enjoyed working with Sanders and that they were friends.
As I watched George Sanders play the despicably corrupt Jaffrey Pyncheon in THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, I wondered how this role might have been interpreted by Orson Welles. Of course, Welles was just on the cusp of making his first Hollywood picture at RKO-- 1941's CITIZEN KANE.
Dick Foran was cast as Matthew Holgrave/Maule a few days after production was underway. Foran had played quite a few supporting parts in 'A' pictures at Warner Brothers in the 1930s, and he starred in a string of B westerns at Warners as a singing cowboy (to rival Republic's Gene Autry).
Dick Foran, who would later be billed as Richard Foran, had a long career in Hollywood films and television programs. This was the beginning of a prolific period for him under contract at Universal in the early to mid-40s. The studio featured him in several popular horror films.
The secondary female role of Phoebe Pyncheon is played by Universal contractee Nan Grey. Miss Grey was only 21 at the time of filming. She would retire from the movie business a year later to become a full time wife and mother.
Yesterday I watched her in a 1960 episode of Rawhide where she has a part opposite guest star Frankie Laine, who sang the show's theme song. It was a one-off TV appearance for her, as she preferred to stay 'retired' from screen work. At the end of the Rawhide episode she is billed as Nan Grey Laine...Frankie Laine was her second husband.
Key supporting roles in THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES are played by Cecil Kellaway, Alan Napier, Miles Mander and Charles Trowbridge. Anytime I see Kellaway's name in the opening credits, I know there will be at least one reason to watch.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 1, 2023 18:39:57 GMT
Me: "We have a new host this month."
Fawn: "Oh God, not you again, umm, I mean [with a strained lilt in his voice], is it you again?"
Me: "Nice. No, it's not me. Topbilled is hosting this month."
Fawn: "Phew. He’s great."
Me: "Charming. But I agree, Topbilled is an excellent host."
Fawn: [trying to sound nonchalant] "So, uh, when do you host again?"
Me: "November."
Fawn: [after a brief pause] "Unrelatedly, I need to visit my family, maybe I'll go next month."
Me: "Oh come on, you hate visiting your family."
Fawn: "Life is all about tradeoffs."
Me: [exasperated] "Pass me the popcorn."
Fawn: "Did you remember the Sno-Caps?"
Me: "Seriously?"
Fawn: "I'm just asking. Don't bite my head off."
Me: "Shh, movie's starting."
Fawn: [mumbling] "Just saying, you didn't answer my question."
Me: [rattling the Sno-Caps box obnoxiously loudly] "Okay!"
Fawn: "Was that so hard?"
Me: [conciliatory] "You want a soda?"
Fawn: "I'm good, thanks, can you reach the popcorn?"
Me: "Yup, thanks."
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 18:41:59 GMT
Me: "We have a new host this month."
Fawn: "Oh God, not you again, umm, I mean [with a strained lilt in his voice], is it you again?"
Me: "Nice. No, it's not me. Topbilled is hosting this month."
Fawn: "Phew. He’s great."
Me: "Charming. But I agree, Topbilled is an excellent host."
Fawn: [trying to sound nonchalant] "So, uh, when do you host again?"
Me: "November."
Fawn: [after a brief pause] "Unrelatedly, I need to visit my family, maybe I'll go next month."
Me: "Oh come on, you hate visiting your family."
Fawn: "Life is all about tradeoffs."
Me: [exasperated] "Pass me the popcorn."
Fawn: "Did you remember the Sno-Caps?"
Me: "Seriously?"
Fawn: "I'm just asking. Don't bite my head off."
Me: "Shh, movie's starting."
Fawn: [mumbling] "Just saying, you didn't answer my question."
Me: [rattling the Sno-Caps box obnoxiously loudly] "Okay!"
Fawn: "Was that so hard?"
Me: [conciliatory] "You want a soda?"
Fawn: "I'm good, thanks, can you reach the popcorn?"
Me: "Yup, thanks." I like it when you two are friends again at the end of these exchanges. LOL
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 1, 2023 18:50:38 GMT
Me: "We have a new host this month."
Fawn: "Oh God, not you again, umm, I mean [with a strained lilt in his voice], is it you again?"
Me: "Nice. No, it's not me. Topbilled is hosting this month."
Fawn: "Phew. He’s great."
Me: "Charming. But I agree, Topbilled is an excellent host."
Fawn: [trying to sound nonchalant] "So, uh, when do you host again?"
Me: "November."
Fawn: [after a brief pause] "Unrelatedly, I need to visit my family, maybe I'll go next month."
Me: "Oh come on, you hate visiting your family."
Fawn: "Life is all about tradeoffs."
Me: [exasperated] "Pass me the popcorn."
Fawn: "Did you remember the Sno-Caps?"
Me: "Seriously?"
Fawn: "I'm just asking. Don't bite my head off."
Me: "Shh, movie's starting."
Fawn: [mumbling] "Just saying, you didn't answer my question."
Me: [rattling the Sno-Caps box obnoxiously loudly] "Okay!"
Fawn: "Was that so hard?"
Me: [conciliatory] "You want a soda?"
Fawn: "I'm good, thanks, can you reach the popcorn?"
Me: "Yup, thanks." I like it when you two are friends again at the end of these exchanges. LOL We have a complex relationship, but we're friends.
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Post by Andrea Doria on Oct 1, 2023 18:58:36 GMT
I just want to repeat, thank goodness Robert Cummings wasn't available.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 1, 2023 18:58:38 GMT
I'm all set, what do I do now to kill two minutes?
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 18:58:39 GMT
Ready to press start...
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Post by topbilled on Oct 1, 2023 19:02:39 GMT
I love the atmospheric beginning, where we first glimpse the house...really puts the viewer into the mood for what follows.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 1, 2023 19:03:21 GMT
Margaret Lindsey!!! Woohoo!!! And wonderfully named Hepzibah, just perfect.
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