Year: 1941

Director: Howard Hawks

Cast:

Gary Cooper (Professor Bertram Potts)

Barbara Stanwyck (Sugarpuss O´Shea)

Oscar Homolka (Professor Gurkakoff)

Henry Travers (Professor Jerome)

S. Z. Sakall (Professor Magenbruch)

Tully Marshall (Professor Robinson)

Leonid Kinskey (Professor Quintana)

Richard Haydn (Professor Oddly)

Aubrey Mather (Professor Peagram)

Barbara Stanwyck, the best actress never to win an Oscar, as she alone defined herself. However, she did win an Honorary Award from the Academy in 1982.

With a chameleonic capacity, Stanwyck once more showed that she could play all sorts of parts, from the most dramatic, in this case, to the craziest comedies.

Gary Cooper, in his role as a good person which gave him so much success, shows once again that he will be sure to triumph in any film that crosses his path. Both actors are magnificent. Stanwyck in the uneducated, ordinary and sexually liberated role of a chorus girl, in the hands of a mafia man who believes her to be part of his property, and Cooper as the shy Professor Potts, totally absorbed by the vulgar charms of Sugarpuss, and ready to follow her to the end of the world.

It is a beautiful film, keeping in line with the master Hawks’ mad comedies. The “yum, yum” scene, in which Stanwyck has to climb upon a stool (Barbara Stanwyck measures 1m 65cm, whilst Cooper reaches 1m 90cm) is absolutely charming.

The entire team’s roles of obsolete and charming professors who accompany Gary Cooper in the making of the encyclopedia is masterly.

It is a perfect film to watch at home on a Sunday afternoon…

Awards:

Nominated in the 1942 Oscars for:

Best actress

Best original script.

Best sound.

Best soundtrack.

Curious Facts:

• The punch that Barbara Stanwyck threw at Kathleen Howard was real. Barbara Stanwyck broke her jaw.

• The script was written by Billy Wilder whilst he was in Germany. When he emigrated to the United States he sold it to Samuel Goldwyn, who promised him a $10,000 cheque if the film was successful. So it happened and Goldwyn refused to give him the said sum of money (“I never said such thing!”). Later on, he recognised his error and gave Wilder a cheque for… $5000.

• Apart from Gary Cooper, the script for the seven professors was inspired by Walt Disney’s Seven Dwarfs.

• Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard turned down the role of Sugarpuss. Lucille Ball wanted to do it, however, Goldwyn preferred Barbara Stanwyck for the part.

Memorable scenes from the film:

Images:

Foto Blog de Cine

Asomateagranada.blogspot

Lo Que Yo te diga. net

 Clementinelagranpantalla.blogspot

Filmaffinity.com 

Year: 1942

Director: Irving Rapper.

Cast:

Bette Davis (Charlotte Vale)

Paul Henreid (Jerry Durrance)

Claude Rains (Dr. Jaquith)

Gladys Cooper (Mrs Henry Vale)

Bonita Granville (June Vale)

This was the biggest success of Bette Davis’ career; without being the most beautiful, without having the most enviable figure, and without being the most seductive of the Olympus Goddesses of Hollywood, through this film she showed the world what the meaning of a great actress was.

Davis goes from being an unfortunate, totally tormented, insecure young girl completely dominated by her insupportable selfish mother, who has the least seductive and most unattractive physique, to become, thanks to the love and understanding of a charming Paul Henreid, an independent, self-confident and brave woman.

This is a film of many details, moments of silence and gazes, and a film in which Bette Davis’ eyes and gestures continuously tell us her fears, wishes and worries. It is full of nuances and memorable scenes.

The scene in which Jerry lights two cigarettes at once so that he and Davis can smoke together, is anthological, not to say one of the most emblematic in the history of romantic cinema. It is a scene impressively loaded with emotions and sensuality. The complicity of their gazes in these moments unmistakably expresses the love that they profess, the necessity to exploit this shared moment, and the sheer impossibility of this love.

This film is beautiful. It is one of those that leaves you a lovely feeling upon finishing watching it. Moreover, as time has demonstrated, it is one that you can watch over and over again with growing pleasure.

The film reflects on the relationships within the family, and the negative consequences that a strict and excessive discipline can incur on the children’s characters. The film is a song for freedom and healthy responsibility of making your own decisions, even if they aren’t the right ones and you make mistakes. It surely made an impact on the strict American society of the Forties.

Although I’m not sure if it is more of a song of love and generosity, than of freedom; A profound and unconditional love song. A love full to the brim of generosity, in which a woman first considers the happiness of the person that she loves, before thinking of her own.

This is my most memorable quote:

“Don’t let’s ask for the moon, we have the stars”.

It is clear that i’m a confirmed romantic.

 Awards:

An Oscar in 1942 for the Best Soundtrack (Max Steiner).

Nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

Awarded in 2007 by the National Film Registration Board.

Curious Facts:

• The film was going to be directed by Edmund Goulding, with the idea of giving the starring role to Irene Dunne. However, she fell sick and the direction passed onto Michael Curtis who thought to choose Norma Shearer or Ginger Rogers. Meanwhile, Bette Davis fought to get the part, something that she managed so long as Curtiz wasn’t to direct her. It was decided at that moment that Irving Rapper should be the director.

• It was the biggest box office success of Bette Davis’ career.

• The scene in which Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes in order to give Bette Davis one, became so famous that when women saw Henreid they would give him two cigarettes from their own packets, so that he could also light theirs.

• The film is based on a novel which makes up part of a series of four books. This is the third part.

• Bette Davis did not like the fact that Max Steiner was awarded an Oscar, as she argued that the music interfered too much with her role.

• The cigarette scenes are older. They had already been done in other films.

• Claude Rains finished the last scene of this film and started filming Casablanca the morning after.

• The taxi scene must be seen in original version, as it’s totally truthful. The taxi driver didn’t speak Portuguese or English, and nor Bette Davis nor Paul Henreid spoke Portuguese. The taxi driver makes a pastiche between Portuguese, Spanish and Sicilian Italian, due to which the scene is made all the more comic.

• The soundtrack’s love theme was later used in a seductive scene in a film starring Joan Crawford in 1945 Mildred Pierce.

Memorable scenes from the film:

Images:

Wikipedia, Cine-fille.com, Reelclub.wordpress , Music Stack.com, Steven Benedict.ie

Year: 1939

• Director/s: Victor Fleming and (although they don’t appear in the credits) George Cukor and Sam Wood.
• Producer: David O. Selznick. In this case the producer is very important, as Selznick is the creator,  the “alma mater” of this film. Only he had enough faith to fight the battle to get this film out in public.

Cast:

• Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O´Hara)
• Clark Gable (Rett Butler)
• Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton)
• Leslie Howard (Ashley)

Sitting down on a November afternoon to watch Gone with the Wind, converted a regular day into an unforgettable one. I spent nearly five hours together with my daughter, who I had managed to convince to watch the film with me, hiding the fact that it was nearly five hours long, and who, consequently, didn’t take her eyes off the screen for a split second. It is clear that Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh continue to capture women of all ages and generations.

Gone with the Wind could be classified as “The FILM”, in capital letters. Adventure, love, conflict, suspense, comedy… It has it all. Although David O. Selznick made many other great films, he will always be remembered for this masterpiece.

It contains infinite memorable scenes in nearly five hours of film, which is an awfully long time. My preferred scene is when Scarlett is dressing with Mami, who is tightening her corset. For me, the black maid’s interpretation is one of the columns of success for the film. Not in vain was she the first colored woman to receive an Oscar from the Hollywood Academy, which she highly deserved.

Vivien Leigh’s interpretation is superb; her superior, jealous, greedy, hurt, desperate and mischievous expressions are masterly.

The scene when she enters the party when wearing the eye-catching scarlet dress is captivating, and where all the guests are dressed much more modestly, and more caste would be a shameless wink at “Jezebel”.

The meetings between Scarlett, totally distanced from the desperate love and charms of Rett Butler are mixed with love and hate. Clark Gable is impressive and one can never tire of watching him.

The unending, enormous stairs throughout the entire film are marvellous. The almost “Hitchcock-like” scenes (in fact, Selznick asked the suspense master’s advice on a few occasions), are slow with a ticking sound of a clock, where the women impatiently and desperately wait, immersed in an absurd and useless entertainment, for their husbands to gracefully leave the bandit’s assault.

Gone with the Wind will always be one of the most famous films in the history of cinema. Within this film the Golden Era of Hollywood amalgamates, by pure accident, surely. It is a simply unrepeatable film, and an icon for all lovers of classic cinema.

Awards:

• Plaque of Honor for William Cameron Menzies for the use of color, reinforcing the film’s dramatism.
• Oscar to Vivien Leigh for Best Actress; for Best Supporting Actress Hattie MacDaniel (Mami), being the first black woman to be nominated, and to receive an Oscar; for the Best Artistic Direction by Lyle R. Wheeler; for the best color cinematography; for the Best Director (Victor Fleming); for the Best Editing; for the Best Film; for the Best Adapted Script and a special award for the Best Technical Innovation.
• Nomination for Best Actor (Clark Gable), for Best Supporting Actress (Olivia de Havilland), for the Best Special Effects, for the Best Soundtrack and for the Best Sound.

Curious Facts:

• 1400 actresses were interviewed to play the role of Scarlett.

• Very few of the actors actually liked the roles that they were given to play. Amongst others, Clark Gable only accepted the role upon an extra pay that he received in order to settle his divorce with Carole Lombard. Leslie Howard thought that he was too old to play the role of Ashley.

• Gary Cooper rejected the role, convinced that it would be a complete failure (“I’m glad it’ll be Clark Gable falling flat on his nose, not me” said Cooper)

• The phrase “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” is placed in the top 100 of best cinema quotes.

• It was the first color film to win an Oscar.

• The four main characters only appear together in one scene (following the attack on Shantytown).

• Judy Garland was going to play the role of one of Scarlett’s sisters, however, she opted to do another film: The Wizard of Oz.

• At the beginning, due to its length (nearly five hours) the film was going to be done in two parts.

• All the existing Technicolor cameras were used for the fire in Atlanta scene. The firemen were ready to take action in the case of it getting out of control, and there was a 5000 gallon reserve (nearly 20,000 litres) of water for the eventuality (after the filming, the fire had to be put out).

• Clark Gable was enormously reluctant to film a scene in which he had to cry. Olivia De Havilland was the one who finally convinced him.

• If the film’s takings were to be adjusted to the current inflation, Gone with the Wind would continue to be the biggest box office success in history (in 2005 it had earned more than 3,700 million dollars and 200 million cinema tickets), with Star Wars being the second.

• None of the interior scenes were filmed with a roof.

• The actress who played Scarlett’s mother was 28 years old, whilst Vivien Leigh, at 25 years, played the role of a girl of 16 years.

• It is the longest film to have won an Oscar.

• In popular surveys to choose who would play the role of Scarlett, Vivien Leigh received only one vote.

• Olivia de Havilland went to a maternity hospital to see what giving birth was really like, in order to make the scene of her daughter’s birth as real as possible.

• Clark Gable never liked the film, categorizing it as a “Woman’s film”.

I leave you with the film’s trailer and a few memorable scenes:

Images: taringa.net y Wikipedia.