REVIEW: The Wife

Directed by Björn Runje
2018 Drama
1 hour 40 minutes
From Sony Pictures

Starring 
Glenn Close
Jonathan Pryce
Max Irons
Christian Slater
Harold Lloyd
Annie Starke
Elizabeth McGovern

The Directors: Vincente Minnelli

There is a line in his most honored film Gigi:  Play the game... be gay, extravagant, outrageous.  It should be on his tombstone because it so accurately depicts the father of the Hollywood musical, famous for his lavish sets, his stylish use of vivid color and richly romantic themes.  One of his trademarks is a dream sequences he's used in a number of of his films.  He was MGM's most prestigious, highest-paid director and made 29 films during his 20-year reign at the studio.

Good 50's Films: The Proud and Profane

1956 Romantic Drama
From Paramount Pictures
Directed by George Seaton

Starring
William Holden
Deborah Kerr
Thelma Ritter
Dewey Martin
William Redfield
Adam Williams

Howard Keel

His initial and most enduring fame came from being MGM's resident baritone in some of the studio's most popular musicals.  While MGM had famous musicals featuring dancers Kelly and Astaire and musicals starring female singers such as Judy Garland, MGM wanted someone on the level of Warner Bros' Gordon MacRae.  Enter Howard Keel.

Bogie's Films of the 1950's

The tough guy entered movies in 1930.  He made over three dozen in that decade, some of them quality films, but he didn't really hit the big time until 1941 with the first film noir, The Maltese Falcon.  From then on he scored a lot of hits.  He made 15 films in the 50's, an impressive output since he died in early 1957.  There are three classics, several very good ones, a few that didn't quite go the distance and one that stands among the worst films ever made.

Good 1950's Films: In a Lonely Place

1950 Film Noir
From Columbia Pictures
Directed by Nicholas Ray

Starring
Humphrey Bogart
Gloria Grahame
Frank Lovejoy
Art Smith
Jeff Donnell
Carl Benton Reid
Robert Warwick
Martha Stewart

The Other James Stewart

By the time he became a movie star in England, it was decided that he would have to change his name because America already had quite a famous James Stewart.  The British James Stewart didn't like it one bit although he understood.  So he was renamed Stewart Granger but for his entire life he would be known by one and all as Jimmy. 

Good 1950's Films: Clash by Night

1952 Drama
From RKO Radio Pictures
Directed by Fritz Lang

Starring
Barbara Stanwyck
Paul Douglas
Robert Ryan
Marilyn Monroe
Keith Andes
J. Carrol Naish
Silvio Minciotti

Flirting with Fifties' Fame

What these three women have in common is that they had some brief fame in the 1950's and then disappeared.  One was a good actress who opted for raising her kids away from the glare of Hollywood.  Another was an Oscar-nominated actress whose downward spiral culminated in suicide.  The third was a pretty ingenue who could never break out of that mold.  One other thing they have in common is that you may not have heard of any of them... age-depending.