Thursday Film Picks-Cold As Ice

 

I’m slowly getting better…slowly. I hope to be back to work today and I hope I can last through the day. I am on antibiotics now and now must get my strength back. Yesterday, was which one won the Oscar, which was nominated and which got nadda, well, the truly awful Pimp song won. Dolly Parton’s song was nominated and the one I would have voted for, from Brokeback Mountain, wasn’t even nominated.

These 3 gals that star in 3 great films were forces to be reckoned with both on screen and off. I chose 3 films where these gals are not the nicest, well 2 of them are horrible and one becomes cold after being mistreated by the men she loves. So let’s start things going…

1. THE LITTLE FOXES-1941

Bette Davis knew how to chew the scenery and she does it well in this film from the Broadway play that starred Tallulah Bankhead. She comes from a family of schemers who want to be even richer and people, in their orbit, who disintegrate just because they are affiliated with this miserable family. Davis plays Regina, a once beautiful, but now, stretched, pale bitch who schemes to get her husband’s riches. Her sickly, but good, husband, played by Herbert Marshall,  and their sweet daughter, played by Theresa Wright, love each other making Regina even more jealous. I really think Bette Davis deserved an Oscar for this role ( granted I can’t recall who was up this year). She played one cold cucumber in this drama. 

2. DOUBLE INDEMNITY-1944

Barbara Stanwyck seems to be the only one to make that blond wig look good:). Fred MacMurray plays an insurance salesman who sees the anklet on Stanwyck’s leg and is ready to murder for her. They become lovers and figure out a scheme to kill her husband and collect the insurance money. The way Barbara knows how to finangle her sexy ways onto the hapless nut tells you that she has done this before. She should have won an Oscar for this role because she acted this role so well that you believe Phyllis through and through. It’s an excellent film noir and Billy Wilder, the director, loved this actress who claimed that he had a daydream that Stanwyck came to the door, that Billy knocked at, wearing an apron, high heels…and nothing else.

3. THE HEIRESS-1949

Olivia DeHavilland won the Oscar for this great performance as a plain Jane heiress, who seems scared of her own shadow and when you meet her father, you understand why. He is cold and has an almost intense dislike for his daughter for not being everything his late wife was. She only wants her father’s love but she can’t do anything right. At a party, an almost beautiful man, played by an almost beautiful man, Montgomery Clift, sees Olivia and decides to woo her much to her disbelief and happiness. Her dad thinks the man is only into her money but she vehemently refuses that notion and finally seems to stand up to her dad. She decides to run away with him but will she be stood up or will her happiness prevail?  This is an excellent character study, well rounded on all fronts. 

Barbara Stanwyck was beloved by not just the actors and directors but all the camera crew, grips and people behind the scenes because she liked..preferred to be with them between takes. The sets were always nicer when she was starring in a picture.

Bette Davis, a Warners contract player, had had enough of these 7 year contracts where the actors had to take whatever crap the studio gave them and if they balked, they were placed on suspension which would be tacked onto their 7 yrs. This could mean that the actor would be stuck with that studio forever. Bette Davis balked at the crap she was given and took Warner Bros to court to cancel these contracts but she failed and it stood. Olivia DeHavilland, who was good friends with Davis, about a decade later took Warners to court and, this time, won! It’s now called the DeHavilland law…gutsy ladies for sure.

Oh, and here is one more gutsy lady

You are right Alex, She deserves to be here.