Joan Crawford Week: Johnny Guitar

Howdy folks and welcome to Day 4 of Joan Crawford Week. We are a moseyin' into Old Timey West with Ms. Crawford today as we enjoy a Western that gender swaps making Crawford the real hero of the flick and Sterling Hayden the plucky heroine?? With this amazing cast and direction by Nicolas Ray (Flying Leathernecks, On Dangerous Ground, The Lusty Men, Run for Cover, Rebel Without a Cause and Bitter Victory) it is a wonder why this is only a cult classic and not a much more beloved western. This is Johnny Guitar.

BARTENDER!!! I SAID A BOTTLE OF VODKA!!!

Our opening sequence is Johnny Logan (Sterling Hayden of Battle Taxi, Timberjack, The Last Command, The Killing, Valerie and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) riding away from a series of explosions through a hillside. I mean this is action hero worthy of his stalwart bad-ass self.

In a town of the outskirts of Sedona Arizona, this cattle town (amazingly enough more than one horse) a smart, aggressive saloon owner and operator Vienna (Joan Crawford of Grand Hotel, The Women, Susan and God, Possessed, Flamingo Road and The Damned Don't Cry) supports the coming track of a new railroad in spite of the rest of the townsfolk declaring it will be the end of their way of life. She even allows the The Dancin' Kid (Scott Brady of Blood Arrow, Shotgun Slade, Five Bloody Graves, Hell's Bloody Angels, Bonnie's Kids and Police Story) and his compatriots to enjoy the saloon, gambling and liquor a plenty.

Crap! Are they mining out here??!!!

The lead cattle rancher with the most head of cattle and acreage, John McIvers (Ward Bond of The Maltese Falcon, It's a Wonderful Life, The Searchers Wagon Train and Rio Bravo) gots a cactus burr in his rear saddle about how Vienna is a doin' things around these here parts are determined to run Vienna out of town and a previous stick-up of the stage coach is a good enough reason to lay blame. Ah, mob mentality. Vienna doesn't give them an inch and refuses to back down with a little bit of help from Johnny Guitar himself they shoo these cowpokes out easily. Vienna and Johny seem to have one of the hotter love/hate relationships as they banter, snark and flirt back and forth through the better portion of the second act until McIvers tells them that they and the Dancin' Kid and crew have just 24 hours to skidaddle or shootin' irons will do all their talking.

Will the Kid and crew give the town a major shoot up? Will McIvers get the surgery needed to pull that stick out of his ass? Will Vienna and Johnny ever make heads or tails of their past and present relationship?

A tiny amount of trivia on the flick. With theme song by Peggy Lee and Victor Young, the instrumental is played throughout the movie. Filmed in Mono this film also used the tired concept of Trucolor prior to Technocolor... Watch it in black and white, folks. So much better and people don't look peach colored that way.

Joan Crawford insisted on her close-ups only to be filmed in the studio, where the lighting could be controlled. Not one of her close-ups was shot on location. Sterling Hayden stated: "There is not enough money in Hollywood to lure me into make another picture with Joan Crawford. And I like money."

Yup, that's me, Johnny.  

Joan Crawford Week: Mildred Pierce

Good day and welcome to Day 3 of Joan Crawford Week. Today I thought we should get away from the MGM years as those were more or less supporting roles and dammit we are gonna let the diva shine. So how about we head over to Warner Brothers to show off the film based on the 1941 novel Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain. With this flick, Crawford won the Academy Award for Best Actress in this film noir about a suffering back breaking mother and her horrific ungrateful brat of a daughter. This is Mildred Pierce.

So whiskey with your whiskey or just the double whiskey?

With a tiny bit of voice-over narrative, via Joan our movie opens in police interrogation after they discover the body of Mildred's second husband Monte Beragon (Zachary Scott of The Mask of Dimitrios, The Southerner, The Young One, It's Only Money and The Rogues) who utters the name Mildred just before death. The cops have a strong suspicion that Mildred's first husband Bert Pierce (Bruce Bennett of Sahara, Dark Passage, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, Perry Mason, Lassie and The Clones) is their culprit, snag him and sweat him under the lamp until he sung like a canary. Shocked at Bert's barbarism she cannot fathom why a man so kind and gentle would ever even think of committing murder.

From there we flashback to simpler times. With selling of pies and cakes all the while tending to the house and the children, Bert feels less of a man being unemployed and comes to terms that Mildred has made the kids her main concern and not him. Boo frickin' hoo. Divorced, Mildred has custody of her two daughters Veda (Ann Blyth of Brute Force, The Great Caruso, The King's Thief, Kismet, Slander and The Helen Morgan Story) a snotty 16 year old social climbing and aspiring pianist with visions of a greater status quo and Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe of Yankee Doodle Dandy, Dangerous Intruder, Man from Rainbow Valley, A Scandal in Paris, Little Iodine and The Strange Woman) a bit of a tomboy playing in the dirt. Mildred's main goals is to win Veda's affection by lavishing this unruly brat with worldly good and attention of which Veda spurns every chance she gets, pointing out how common her mother is to be working at a restaurant as a lowly waitress... Anyone else want to drop the little princess out on her ass?? Bert picks up the kids for a weekend visit when little Kay get pneumonia and dies. I'm sure Bert didn't cause that to happen.

Jeez, father backed over the cat and just tore off.

Sicken with grief and guilt, Mildred throws herself into work where she and her supervisor Ida (Eve Arden of The Eve Arden Show, Anatony of a Murder, The Red Skelton Hour, The Mothers-In-Law and In Name Only) work to build a better restaurant into a chain of them for across the country, a deal to insure a fleet of Mildred's making their ways all over the freeways. Veda refuses to give an inch from her mother and mocks her precious gifts. Will Mildred and Veda ever become the mother and daughter Mildred deserves? Will Veda "accidentally" be shoved into an industrial wood chipper? Will Bert meet an Ernie?

A few points on this movie now.

Shirley Temple was originally considered for the part of Veda Pierce. Interestingly enough, Joan Crawford was a waitress and a saleswoman supporting herself before her chorus days let alone her acting days.

Author James M. Cain sent Joan a signed first edition of the original novel, inscribed read: To Joan Crawford, who brought Mildred Pierce to life just as I had always hoped she would be, and who has my lifelong gratitude. Not too shabby, eh?

Pipe down sweet cheeks, the menfolk are talking.

Joan Crawford Week: The Women

Welcome back my fine collective to Day 2 of Joan Crawford Week. Well yesterday we saw the lady of the week in a secondary character role in a dark drama. Hows about this time around we enjoy a comedic drama on relationships, partnerships, love and marriage? Based on an all-woman cast play by author/US Ambassador/feminist Clare Booth Luce (Abide with Me, The Women, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, Margin for Error, Child of the Morning and Slam the Door Softly)comes the tale of Manhattan gals living life to the fullest, some working like dogs while others happy in their surroundings. This is The Women.

A wise notion giving me top photo, Jake.

Our story primarily focuses on Mary Haines (Norma Shearer of The Divorcee, Romeo and Juliet, Marie Antoinetter, Idiot's Delight and Escape) the happy housewife of Stephen and mother to Little Mary (Virginia Weidler of Bad Little Angel, Henry Goes Arizona,The Philadelphia Story, All This, and Heaven Too and Best Foot Forward)who after working around the house and by that I mean everything but walnut blast the wallpaper off and put up new spackle feels that everything is just so and nothing could persuade her to think otherwise...

Meanwhile the ladies of gossip are gabbing it up about an affair happening as Mary's cousin, Sylvia Fowler (Rosalind Russel of Trouble for Two, Night Must Fall, Man-Proof, His Girl Friday, She Wouldn't Say Yes and The Trouble with Angels) is getting her nails done when the manicurist tells her that Mary's husband has been seen gadding it up with a perfume counter girl name of Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford of Possessed, Flamingo Road, Sudden Death, Torch Song and Johnny Guitar).  Sylvia sets Mary up for the same manicurist so she can hear the rumor and get the ball rolling on how best to deal with the double dealing jerk. Mary's mother (Lucile Watson of Made for Each Other, Waterloo Bridge, Watch on the Rhine and Song of the South) urges Mary to forget this nonsense but Mary's suspicions are on the rise when her husband's constant claims of working late seems to be happening far too often. She decides to take a trip to Bermuda with her mom and let the rumors die out and think long and hard at the whole situation.

 

AHH!! SMOKER!  KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

Upon returning, Mary makes her way to a fashion show she knows Crystal will be at and concludes to confront Crystal about the supposed affair. Crystal is cold and calculating, letting Mary know that he clearly found something in her that Mary could not provide and hints that if Mary wants this to remain on the down low unless she wants a public divorce. Mary, hurt from these comments leave the show. The rumors continue to circulate until it makes its way into the gossip columns and Mary has had enough. With a quickie divorce in the wings, she and Little Mary pack up and head to Reno.

On the train to Reno she encounters a gathering of women heading in the same direction with oddly enough about the same issues. The lovely Countess de Lave (Mary Boland of Ruggles of Red Gap, Six of a Kind, Pride and Prejudice and Julia Misbehaves), her friend Peggy Day (Joan Fontaine of Rebecca, Suspicion, Letter from an Unknown Woman and Ivanhoe) and streetwise chorus girl Miriam Aarons (Paulette Goddard of Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Second Chorus, Babes in Bagdad, Paris Model and The Unholy Four). Settling in at a ranch the ladies' live begin anew, get more hectic and in general are relying on each other to see this through.

A few comments on the film now.

Myrna Loy and Greta Garbo were the only top female stars at MGM that did not star in this movie, it was rumored that Loy was considered for the part of Crystal. The square-cut ring for Mary's wedding band was the most expensive piece of jewelry on the film, worth $175,000 you can imagine how well it was look after. While many view Joan Crawford as the bad girl in the film, Clare Boothe Luce wrote the play to be based around Crystal Allen and not Mary.

Too much high society for me, ladies.

Joan Crawford Week: Grand Hotel

Welcome ladies and gents to Day 1 of Joan Crawford Week. Today we look at the adaptation of screenplay of the same name to film by playwright/screenplay writer William A. Drake (The Trespasser, Paramount on Parade, Riptide, The Flame Within, Dark Victory and The Old Maid) and working alongside with actor/writer/director Edmund Goulding (Reaching for the Moon, Night Angel, A Night at the Opera, Dark Victory, The Old Maid and The Razor's Edge) This film's influence stems to this day with the famous line "I want to be alone", uttered by Greta Garbo and in American Film Institute placed at number 30 of the 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.

This is Grand Hotel.

Fame overwhelms the mind, don't it?

The Grand Hotel hails from Berlin and houses a curious collection of people from every walk of life. The standards view is people come and go, and nothing ever truly happens. With a crippled veteran of World War I, Doctor Otternschlag (Lewis Stone of The Lost World, Queen Christina, Love Finds Andy Hardy, Scarmouche and The Prisoner of Zenda) being the hotel's lone permanent resident, much goes on in the hotel he calls home.

A member of the Kaiserreich a one Baron Felix von Geigern (John Barrymore of Here Comes the Bride, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Sea Beast, Moby Dick, Dinner at Eight and The Great Profile) a squander of his fortune keeps himself afloat by being a card player and indulging in the odd spot of jewel theft befriends mild-mannered accountant Otto Kringelein (Lionel Barrymore of Captains Courageous, You Can't Take It With You, It's a Wonderful Life, Key Largo and Lone Star) who recently discovered he is dying and will spend his remaining days on this Earth in the lap of luxury. Let go from his job he is excited for a bit of action and entertainment.

Sir, stop farting on my scotch and soda!

Meanwhile his former employer, Industrialist General Director Preysing (Wallace Beery of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, Another Man's Wife, Dynamite Smith, The Champ and Viva Villa!) is dictating to his secretary Flaemchen (Joan Crawford of Mildred Pierce, Goodbye, My Fancy, Torch Song, Sudden Fear, This Woman Is Dangerous, Johnny Guitar and The Caretakers) who exhibits a certain naivete' explaining to Preysing how she aspires to be an actress and displays a few photo magazine shots that frankly had a bit of cheesecake quality towards them, slowly hinting that she will give more than typing if he assists her in her budding career. Last but certainly not least is the Russian ballerina whose career seems out of sorts, Grusinskaya (Greta Garbo of The Temptress, Flesh and the Devil, The Divine Woman, The Kiss, Mata Hari, As You Desire Me and The Painted Veil) manages to catch the Baron's eye for her stunning beauty and fine quality jewels.

Snatching the goods, the Baron finally sees an opportunity to get ahead when he sees Grusinskaya enter the room, speaking to herself about suicide with medication in hand. The Baron comes out of the shadows of where he was hiding and simply speaks with her bringing a little happiness to her face. The next day the Baron filled with remorse returns Grusinskaya's precious jewels to her in the hopes she may forgive him in his moment of weakness. Rather than summon the authorities she invites him to journey with her to Vienna. See? I would have just gotten the cops called on me and charges pressed. Go figure. With tempers flaring between Kringlein and his former boss Preysing it can only in tears, violence and quite possibly a murder.

A quick couple of facts on the film. While made in 1932, the budget for the movie was 700,000 clams. Wallace Beery would storm out of rehearsals and only return "When Joan Crawford learns to act." Both Joan and Greta were reluctant to star as their characters. Ms. Crawford felt she would be censored immensely for her provocative character and Ms. Garbo felt she would be lost in the crowd of so many stars.  

Did Jake forget I am the star of this week?  The hack!

Joan Crawford Week

Good day and welcome to the week, my readers. Well, I posted in as many places as I could asking the reading public any ideas for the week. Alas only one person answered and offered up an actress that I am familiar with but had not explored with a great degree. My friend Hodge suggested the queen of the screen, the madam of misery and with such charisma and fashion, an icon for many. With a less than flattering tell-all book written by her adopted daughter, a film portraying her in the spotlight as obsessive compulsive, cruel and prone to fits of rage. With the illusion of pouty lips, it became known as Hunter's Bow Lips and she was credited as helping to converge America's dislike against lipstick.

Ooo, she gonna whoop somebody.

Having met Steven Spielberg on the set of Night Gallery as a young director and was a source of inspiration for his early years. A cultural icon started out in a collective of menial jobs to allow her time to continue and perfect her dancing. Entering in several contests she landed herself in a spot of a chorus line dancing her way through the Midwest and East Coast when after two years of this she simply moved to Hollywood for the next big step in being a star when she landed her first bit part as a showgirl in Pretty Ladies.

With the hurdles of the talkies driying up and handed more and more bit parts, Crawford grew tired of MGM studios and head for their primary rival Warner Brothers in the later 1940s, landed the plum role for Mildred Pierce allowed her to show her full range as an actress captivated the audience and earning her an Oscar for Best Actress. Born Lucille Fay LeSueur was informed by MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer to her stage name because according to his very narrow piggy little head that LeSeur sounded to close to sewer. Thus Joan Crawford was born.

With that in mind we will examine and go over the various well known titles of this actress that to this very day. Her following is as great as it was in the day and quite possibly more appreciated. Please sit back and enjoy Joan Crawford Week.

More smoke on this film than a Cuban tobacco harvest.