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Here's a great Christmas present: a month celebrating Ms. Stanwyck. I implore you to free up some time to catch a movie or two from my favorite actress. There's something for all. Comedy, drama, melodrama, suspense, and noirs she's done 'em all. You should at least watch her Christmas films. It is a holiday: Stanwyck-mas!

http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/518184|0/Barbara-Stanwyck-Wednesdays-in-December.html

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lotd

Barbara Stanwyck
Originally uploaded by zadie75.

It's been awhile since I've posted about Miss Stanwyck. And it's been awhile since I've seen one of her films. The last was "Remember the Night" on Christmas break. I think I watched it several times then. Not as good as her turn in "The Lady Eve," but what would be? I think I'll catch her in "Double Indemnity" as the femme fatale with a bad wig or in "Ball of Fire" as the dame that wins Gary Cooper's heart. Anything to get my mind off of the weather and the day.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, picture, The Lady Eve

Remember the Night stars Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It was released in 1940 a few years before the two stars made memorable cinematic pleasures with Double Indemnity. The movie was also written by Preston Sturges. If you will recall, Sturges directed and wrote The Lady Eve, one of the greatest screwball comedies, for Ms. Stanwyck. What is there not to like about watching this flick?

I haven't seen it though. It's one of the few Stanwyck films that I haven't seen. You know, I think there may be a DVD version out there. I should track it down. But for today it's being shown on TCM at 6:00 PM. I've set my DVR. I can't wait.

http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=87956

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lotd, she's hot, The Lady Eve

"You see Hopsi, you don't know very much about girls. The best ones aren't as good as you think they are and the bad ones aren't as bad. Not nearly as bad."

Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), The Lady Eve

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, qotd, she's hot, The Lady Eve

If you're reading this, then it's probably too late. Still, run to your TV sets and turn on TCM, they're hosting a Summer Under the Stars and Miss Barbara Stanwyck is today's classic movie star. It's got a wonderful set of her films -- lots of rarities that haven't been shown in a long while. Also, I have to eat my words from a week ago, when I said that there was no movie by the name of You Belong to Me starring Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. There is. Oops, my bad. I read imdb before posting that and must've glossed over it completely. Oops, my bad, again.

Anyhow, I set my tivo to do some extra recording, dumping all Olympic coverage. I suggest you do the same.

http://www.tcm.com/2008/summer/index.jsp?day=19

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lotd, oops

You Belong to Me sounds like an interesting movie. It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. She's a doctor. He's a millionaire. They meet on vacation. I suppose wacky highjinx ensue soon turning to love.

But the movie only sounds interesting. There was never a movie with that description with those two in it. It is almost real and very similar plot points to The Lady Eve. Yet, I think it's all fabricated.

I got this link in my google search RSS feed for Barabara Stanwyck. I read it the site. I think it's a spam site as lately this search RSS feed has been getting hit with spam sites. I apologize now if you're on a Windows machine and it installs some kind of malware.

I can't believe how sophisticated these spammers are. If you read the rest of the site, you'll see some other movies that were made in the alternate reality Hollywood of the spammers.

http://sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com/882638.html

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lotd, The Lady Eve, WTF

I would be remiss if I forget to note that today would've been Barbara Stanwyck's 101st birthday.

Watch one of her movies today. Let me suggest Walk on the Wild Side. It's got a little bit of yuri flavor to it. And a fiesty Jane Fonda.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, movies, time sink

This is a post that most likely should come from my buddy, Wyman, over at JadedWings, but he's busy doing his own thing so let me tell you about.

TCM is doing race and cinema with Asian actors. Every Tuesday and Thursday they'll show movies that have asian actors. The one I am most looking forward to is The Bitter Tea of General Yen which stars my fave, Barbara Stanwyck, who is seduced by the oriental devil. Nice. Anyway, try to catch some of these movies because I said so. You've got Tivo correct?

http://www.tcm.com/2008/aif/index.jsp

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lotd, movies

No need to get me this for Christmas. I picked it up today. I've exhausted Netflix of her films. Still, I get this box set, and I haven't seen half of them. I can't wait for some free time to pop them into the DVD player.

Here's one final list of Miss Stanwyck films to round out celebrating her 100th and the release of this box set. It's Kim Morgan's top 5 (Baby Face, Forty Guns, Double Indemnity, Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve), but make sure to click through to her top 10. Anyone who ranks The Lady Eve as her best film over Ball of Fire is aces in my book. As is Miss Stanwyck.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, The Lady Eve

Adventures from my Netflix Queue: Arizona

It seems that it's been nothing but westerns. I caught 3:10 To Yuma last week (someday I'll be reviewing it). My Netflix queue has been filled with the old timey stuff. And I totally loved Miss Stanwyck in Forty Guns. It's an all-american genre, and it has some great movies to love. And it is good to look at some decent work in that genre outside of the major, important films.

Arizona could be one of them. It may not be memorable, but it has a lasting impression on the western genre. Columbia Studios built a fascimile of old Tucson, and it has been used since for other westerns.

Jean Arthur stars as Phoebe Titus, a gal stuck in Arizona making a go of it. She is ambitous and she plots to finally own the largest ranch in the Arizona territories. As her fortunes rise so does the prosperity of Tucson. She has a rival, a suave gentleman named Carteret, who acts nice but is duplicitous. He constantly is sweet to her all the while planning for her downfall. She has suitor. William Holden as Peter Muncie swept into Tucson at the head of a wagon train, courted Ms. Titus with a banjo, goes to California for some shade, comes back a soldier, gets her 500 head of cattle and finally marries her. He also has to settle the Phoebe's score with cateret as her husband/man of the house.

It's a sweeping movie. Epic in proportions. Filmed in 1940, you could say this was in reaction to the success of Gone With The Wind. Or you could say that it's one in the long line of westerns. It makes due with the genre's conventions, and churns out a solid effort of a movie.

Yet, there were some hilarious things. Ms. Titus made her living selling pies. Yes, pies. I loved that. She goes from selling pies to being the cattle baroness of Tucson. Hilarious. And everyone loved her pies. Muncie especially.

Jean Arthur is another favorite. Actually, I couldn't stand her at first. Her melodious voice grew on me, and now I own several DVDs of movies she's been in. Strange that.

3 of 5 stars.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, movies, Netflix Queue, NewsRadio quote, review

Ingrid Bergman would've been 92 today.

Although Barbara Stanwyck is now my all time favorite, Bergman is one of the greats. What can one say of the gal in Casablanca? What more needsto be said? Catch her in Notorious and Gaslight which are some of her early Hollywood work. Then check out Autumn Sonata is the twilight of her career working with another Swede, Ingmar Bergman. She's still beautiful in it.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000006/

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, Ingrid Bergman

This is a list of those other bloggers who have decided to write something for Barbara Stanwyck's 100th birthday. By all means not the most definitive, but the ones that I have read for today.

The Self Styled Siren
The Shamus. This may disappear quickly.
Another Old Movie Blog
Coffee, coffee, and more coffee does a review of Roustabout (The title of this blog is perfect for Marge)
The Shiela Variations
Spout Blog

If you come across anymore, feel free to post them in the comments.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lists

If you haven't seen any of Miss Stanwyck's films, I again ask you to check out TCM who are celebrating her birthday today with 24 hours of her films. But if you're like me stuck at work, here's my list of 5 favorite Barbara Stanwyck films. I liked these the most.

The Lady Eve. I find this to be her best. She's alluring and conniving, sexy and devious, witty and charming. She received an Academy nomination the same year for Ball of Fire, but it should've been for this role.

Meet John Doe. A lesser Frank Capra film, but still it had Miss Stanwyck. Even with the corn that Capra dishes, Stanwyck brings the joy out. This film was released in the same year as The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire (1941). It may not be as superb as those two, it sure has a moving performance from her.

Forty Guns. Miss Stanwyck in Samuel Fuller film. 'Nuff said. The song written about her character nails it, "She's a high riding woman with a whip."

Sorry, Wrong Number. Barbara as a helpless victim? She's not convincing, but she did garner her last Academy nomination for this role. Charged with playing a dubious hypochondriac she does show in the flashbacks why she's such a dangerous woman.

Walk on the Wildside. One of her last roles on the big screen. She's a New Orleans madam with a wicked crush on one of her girls. She's villainous reminding us of her femme fatale role as Phyllis Diethrichson, and also reminding us why she's wickedly bad.

Honorable mentions: Ball of Fire. Double Indemnity. Stella Dallas. Baby Face.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, lists, movies, The Lady Eve

Tomorrow would've been Barbara Stanwyck's 100th birthday. TCM is celebrating it by showing a whole day of her movies. I implore you, if you have the time catch a few of these. If you don't, get your Tivo started. I certainly am.

Just check out the films, you'll find something you like:

6:00 AM Night Nurse (1931)
A nurse discovers that the children she's caring for are murder targets. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Ben Lyon, Clark Gable. Dir: William A. Wellman. BW-72 mins, TV-G
7:15 AM Lost Lady, A (1934)
A bitter woman who thinks she'll never love again marries, only to fall for a brash young man. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Morgan, Ricardo Cortez. Dir: Alfred E. Green, Phil Rosen. BW-61 mins, TV-G
8:30 AM Ladies They Talk About (1933)
A lady bank robber becomes the cell block boss after she's sent to prison. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Lyle Talbot, Preston Foster. Dir: Howard Bretherton, William Keighley. BW-69 mins, TV-G
9:45 AM Breakfast For Two (1937)
A Texas heiress competes with a gold digger for the love of a playboy. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, Glenda Farrell. Dir: Alfred Santell. BW-68 mins, TV-G
11:00 AM Meet John Doe (1941)
A reporter's fraudulent story turns a tramp into a national hero and makes him a pawn of big business. Cast: Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-122 mins, TV-G, CC, DVS
1:15 PM Christmas In Connecticut (1945)
A homemaking specialist who can't boil water is forced to provide a family holiday for a war hero. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan, Sydney Greenstreet. Dir: Peter Godfrey. BW-102 mins, TV-G, CC
3:15 PM Two Mrs. Carrolls, The (1947)
A woman slowly discovers that her artist husband is a deranged killer. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith. Dir: Peter Godfrey. BW-94 mins, TV-G, CC
5:00 PM Jeopardy (1953)
A woman desperately seeks help to prevent her trapped husband from drowning. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Ralph Meeker. Dir: John Sturges. BW-69 mins, TV-G, CC
6:15 PM These Wilder Years (1956)
A wealthy businessman sets out to find his long-lost illegitimate son. Cast: James Cagney, Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Pidgeon. Dir: Roy Rowland. BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC
8:00 PM Baby Face (1933)
A beautiful schemer sleeps her way to the top of a banking empire. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, John Wayne. Dir: Alfred E. Green. BW-76 mins, TV-PG, CC
9:30 PM Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire (1991)
Barbara Stanwyck's multi-faceted career reveals uncanny reflections of her off-screen life. Cast: Sally Field, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper. Dir: Richard Schickel. C-46 mins, TV-G
10:30 PM Annie Oakley (1935)
The famed female sharpshooter learns that you can't get a man with a gun when she falls for a rival marksman. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas. Dir: George Stevens. BW-90 mins, TV-G, CC
12:15 AM Clash By Night (1952)
An embittered woman seeks escape in marriage, only to fall for her husband's best friend. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe. Dir: Fritz Lang. BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
2:15 AM Executive Suite (1954)
When a business magnate dies, his board of directors fights over who should run the company. Cast: William Holden, June Allyson, Barbara Stanwyck. Dir: Robert Wise. BW-105 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
4:15 AM Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
A neurotic invalid accidentally overhears a phone conversation plotting her own murder. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Wendell Corey. Dir: Anatole Litvak. BW-89 mins, TV-PG, CC

Also, if you're in LA you should check out the Academy's display of her posters and lobby cards just because you can.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, get off your butt

As you know, I am currently keen on Barbara Stanwyck movies. Ever since I saw The Lady Eve, I have been going through her films weekly. I must have watched The Lady Eve several times already, and almost daily do I put the DVD in the player to watch a few minutes. But, there are so many classic scenes in the movie that I lose myself in it and end up watching it fully. I just dig her in it.

My favorite scene happens half way through the movie as Jean starts her ploy to ensnare Hopsie in her revenge. She poses as the Lady Eve Sidwich at a party given by Hopsie's father in her honor. There she meets Hopsie face-to-face.

She casually and non-chalantly greets him as if they had never met.

Hopsie was incredulous and caught tongue tied. He couldn't believe this English Lady was the same grifter he had met on the boat.

He asks, "Have we met?"

"Of course we have, your father just introduced us."

And it goes downhill quick for Hopsie from there.

Stanwyck plays it marvelously. Her face as she lies to him does not betray one hint of recognition. She is daring him to call her bluff. He doesn't, and she subtly mocks him for it.

It's enough to make Hopsie fall over himself.

The scene ends with a Hopsie's father's toast to the Lady Eve over her wily ways.

"Well, I don't know what she looked like, but if she looked anything like you, here's to her."

She looked just like her, because it was her. She and her being the same person. It's a brilliant line that gets to the theme of the movie.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend that you do. It's on the American Film Institute's list of 100 comedies. Put it in your Netflix queue.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, movies, The Lady Eve

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, screenshot, The Lady Eve

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, screenshot, The Lady Eve

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, screenshot, The Lady Eve

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, screenshot, The Lady Eve

As you know, I'm on a Barbara Stanwyck jag. It's been her movies which I just want to see. My Netflix queue has several. My DVD collection has expanded because of her. My Amazon shopping cart is crammed with her films. Anyway here's the post which got me started on this cinematic journey.

Labels: Barbara Stanwyck, movies