The Directors: James Ivory

Nobody better exemplifies the thrill I get from following a director's career than James Ivory.  Awaiting his films always aroused my impatience but finally getting to see them produced a euphoria that I rarely had with any other director.  The greatest joy was that Ivory was always a director and storyteller I could count on.  I liked some of his films more than others but never have I seen one I didn't like.  Two of his films appear on my 50 Favorite Films listing and if I had enlarged that to 100, two more would have been included. 

Guilty Pleasures: Woman They Almost Lynched

1953 Western
From Republic Pictures
Directed by Allan Dwan

Starring
John Lund
Brian Donlevy
Audrey Totter
Joan Leslie
Ben Cooper
Nina Varela
Jim Davis
Reed Hadley

Hope Lange

I was pretty crazy about her in the mid-50's when she first became a movie actress.  She wasn't my type... meaning she wasn't that smartass type of actress I was so attracted to.  But I noticed not only her cool, blonde beauty but her intelligence which I felt came through loud and clear.  There was a lot of clamor about her when she arrived on the Hollywood scene but her film career seemed to peter out before it should have and she never reached the heights that her talent deserved.  

Movie Biographies: I'll Cry Tomorrow

1955 Biography
From MGM
Directed by Daniel Mann

Starring
Susan Hayward
Jo Van Fleet
Richard Conte
Eddie Albert
Don Taylor
Ray Danton
Margo
Virginia Gregg
Don Barry

A Glittering Cast: How the West Was Won

1962 Western
From MGM & Cinerama
Directed by Henry Hathaway, 
John Ford and George Marshall

Starring
Carroll Baker
Walter Brennan
Lee J. Cobb
Henry Fonda
Carolyn Jones
Karl Malden
Agnes Moorehead
Gregory Peck
George Peppard
Robert Preston
Debbie Reynolds
Thelma Ritter
James Stewart
Eli Wallach
John Wayne
Richard Widmark

Loretta Young

I enjoy filling reader's requests, having done it four or five times before, but I've always regarded it as somewhat risky when asked to write about a person rather than a film.  I figure the requester likes or admires the actor and what if I don't?  Ick.  Such a conundrum.  But one either ignores the request, which I'm loathe to do, or one just jumps in there.  I'm jumping.  

Visiting Film Noir: They Won't Believe Me

1947 Film Noir

From RKO

Directed by Irving Pichel

Starring

Robert Young

Susan Hayward

Jane Greer

Rita Johnson

Actresses & Presence

A reader made a comment about Gene Tierney saying that he found her looks to be supernatural.  That comment sent me into reams of thoughts about her and then other Golden Age actresses who had a presence that seemed to guarantee their fame and popularity on the silver screen.  Presence can feel supernatural.  For some it might be a dignified manner, a bearing, comportment.  For others it might be an imposing personality.  Isn't it an ability to project ease, poise and self-assurance?  It is usually someone of a noteworthy appearance.