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.