Hollywood Picks the Classics - A Guide for the Beginner & the Aficianad

[Mister Tee]

I don't remember seeing Joan Fontaine past the 50th anniversary show.

As far as her status vis a vis deHavilland, it's no contest: by the time I was growing up (late 50s/early 60s), Fontaine was primarily visible as a Password contestant. I wa astounded to find out she was an Oscar winner. deHavilland was still headlining films at the time (Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte; Lady in a Cage). And her string of films in the 40s leaves Fontaine far in the dust.

Magilla, The Racket was on TCM just last year (part of a tribute to Howard Hughes as a producer); I wrote about it in the Oscar's First Decade section, under, I believe, Silent Classics.

I've found any number of other nominated films beyond what you mention impossible to track down -- to cite a few: Berkeley Square, Private Worlds, Valiant is the Word for Carrie, The Pied Piper, A Medal for Benny, The Constant Nymph (speaking of Joan Fontaine), The Blue Veil, The Mark. And, believe me, I've looked for them.

[Hustler]

I don´t remember Joan Fontaine sitting between the former winners in the 70th Anniversary. Do you?

[Big Magilla]

Sorry, I got my anniversaries wrong, not the year - it was 1998, the 70th anniversary, not the 65th.

[Hustler]

I think it was the 65th, not the 70th, so that would make it March, 1998.

In that case it was in 1993, when AMPAS awarded 1992 productions. You know, I watched that show but I don´t remember the tribute to the former winners. I was pretty sure that there were only two of this kind, the 70th anniversary and the 75th anniversary when Olivia de Havilland was presenting.

[Big Magilla]

Hustler - as far as I know Fontaine's last public appearance was at one of the Oscar anniversary shows where they paraded out the former winners. I think it was the 65th, not the 70th, so that would make it March, 1998.

Her last film was a 1994 TV movie. She lives in Carmel near Clint Eastwood and Doris Day.

Reza/Mister Tee - East Lynne is not a lost film - it is one of three Oscar nominated films that are not available to the public, but The Patriot is the only one that is actually lost. The Racket is tied up in a rights dispute. UCLA film lab has a print of East Lynne. Some day they may get around to restoring it and releasing it on DVD. I'm pretty sure I saw this on TV in the 50s, but don't remember it well.

[Hustler]

Joan did nothing political in her long career, shuns the spotlight and has to be pulled kicking and screaming every time she attends an Oscar show, vowing since her last appearance that she would never do it again.

Magilla, when was her last public appearance?

[Reza]

And is East Lynne available anywhere?[/quote]
Is it true that East Lynne is a lost film?

[Big Magilla]

I seriously doubt it. Olivia is a part of Hollywood history and folklore because of the "de Havilland decision" which put an end to studio servitude. She has remained in the public eye, willingly giving interviews every time Goen With the Wind is re-issued, first theatrically, then on video. She also came to the Oscars every time she was asked. Joan did nothing political in her long career, shuns the spotlight and has to be pulled kicking and screaming every time she attends an Oscar show, vowing since her last appearance that she would never do it again.

[Hustler]

Do you think academy members are going to tribute Joan Fontaine career in the same way they did with Olivia de Havilland?

[Big Magilla]

Reza, Ann Harding was a big star. Irene Dunne, who was 3 years older but thought to be 3 years younger, was originally promted as a younger version of the venerable star who did not age well and by the 40s was already playing mothers of the ingenues.

[Reza]

Ann Harding was a frequent guest star on TV when I was growing up in the 50s. Always a lovely, genteel presence, I was especially fond of her 1947 weepie, Christmas Eve aka Sinner's Holiday, which played incessantly around the holidays way been when, but which hasn't been readily available in years.

Unfortunately most of the films in which she played the lead are either in public domain and available only in crappy prints (Animal Kingdom, Love From a Stranger) or have been completely eclipsed by their re-makes (Holiday, Enchanted April) and almost never shown. Her only film that has had a decent DVD release is Peter Ibbetson, which Universal released as part of the Gary Cooper collection.

Yes, Miss Harding is such a lovely presence on screen. What a pity she did not become a bigger star and simply faded from the screen. TCM is a good place to catch Ann Harding's films. I recently managed to get recordings of Westward Passage (1932 - with Olivier), When Ladies Meet (1933) and Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935). Enchanted April (1934) is also shown fairly regularly. She is exquisite in Peter Ibbetson (1935) and deserved her Oscar nod for Holiday (1930).

I am desparately looking out for Mission to Moscow (1943).

[OscarGuy]

But George must at least make you happy that How Green Was My Valley is on his list.

[Big Magilla]

Surprisingly classy list (barring Mickey Rooney, of course). I'm glad to see Gaslight and A Place in the Sun show up on people's lists, though very disappointed that I couldn't really pick out a single silent era film.

They're sparse, but Sissy Spacek had Metropolis on her list. These additonal lists included at least one silent film:

Thora Birch:
For Heaven's Sake (1926) (silent)
The Hanging Tree
Holiday
Lust for Life
Mister Roberts
Phoen Call From a Stranger
A Place in the Sun
The Rainmaker
This Gun for Hire
Warlock

Betty Garrett:
The African Queen
The films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
The Gold Rush (silent)
The Jolson Story
My Man Godfrey
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Singin' in the Rain
Sullivan's Travels
The Wizard of Oz

John Hannah:
Battleship Potemkin (silent)
Citizen Kane
A Day at the Races
Great Expectations (1946)
I Know Where I'm Going!
I'm All Right Jack
It Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful Life
A Matter of Life and Death

Anita Page:
All This and Heaven, Too
Ben-Hur (1925) (silent)
Camille
Dinner at Eight
Grand Hotel
Intolerance (silent)
Marie Antoinette
Our Dancing Daughters (silent)
Sparrows (silent)
Sunset Boulevard

Ryan O'Neal:
Birth of a Ntion (silent)
Bringing Up Baby
Dodsworth
The Kid (silent)
The Ladykillers
On the Waterfront
A Place in the Sun
Red River
The Steel Helmet
The Yearling

Patrick Stewart:
Baby Doll
The Court Jester
The General (silent)
High Noon
On the Waterfront
Quo Vadis
The Seventh Seal
Shane
Sons of the Desert
Way Out West

Interestingly, George Lucas who has made very few films, apparently hasn't seen very many either. He could cite only five classic films, none of them silent:
Citizen Kane
How Green Was My Valley
The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
Stageocach



Edited By Big Magilla on 1151648759

[Big Magilla]

Ann Harding was a frequent guest star on TV when I was growing up in the 50s. Always a lovely, genteel presence, I was especially fond of her 1947 weepie, Christmas Eve aka Sinner's Holiday, which played incessantly around the holidays way been when, but which hasn't been readily available in years.

Unfortunately most of the films in which she played the lead are either in public domain and available only in crappy prints (Animal Kingdom, Love From a Stranger) or have been completely eclipsed by their re-makes (Holiday, Enchanted April) and almost never shown. Her only film that has had a decent DVD release is Peter Ibbetson, which Universal released as part of the Gary Cooper collection.

And, yes, Jimmy Lydon who recently celebrated his 83rd birthday, is still very much alive, last having appeared in a 2004 documentary on Edgar G. Ullmer.

Did anyone else take notice of how many of Winona Ryder's picks were about con artists?

[Penelope]

I'd somehow missed out on Ann Harding until just a few years ago when I saw When Ladies Meet...

That's the movie I discovered Ann Harding in, as well, she's absolutely stunning in the film, and I've so wanted to see her other films since; I've only managed to see The Magnificent Yankee and The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit. I'm tempted to add The Animal Kingdom to my Netflix queue, but I've heard the print used is in terrible condition.