Young Bess (1953)
Starring Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, and Deborah Kerr
Airs March 11 on TCM
Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a biopic of Queen Elizabeth’s early years. The movie centers on Bess’ (Jean Simmons) relationships with her distant father Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) and the dashing Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger).
Airs March 11 on TCM
Light in the Piazza (1962)
Starring Yvette Mimieux, Olivia de Havilland, and George Hamilton
Airs March 11 on TCM
I know I tend to call a lot of movies “my all-time favorites”, mostly because I don’t have a favorite, but I would probably call this one my favorite DVD-less film. It’s based on a 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer that also inspired a Broadway show of the same name.
While on vacation in Italy, American tourist Clara Johnson (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a dashing young Italian (George Hamilton). Their young love is complicated, however, when an accident from Clara’s past is revealed after her mother (Olivia de Havilland) tries to hide it from both her new love and his family.
If I get a chance, I’m going to take a crack at reviewing this film. Cross your fingers. I have yet to get up the motivation to review a film.
Show Boat (1936)
Starring Irene Dunne and Allan Jones
Airs March 16 on TCM
It may be less colorful than the 1951 remake with Keel and Grayson, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good. I actually prefer this version to the glitzier Technicolor version as do most critics because it’s more faithful to the original stage version. I’m feeling lazy about summing up the plot so here is a nutshell version: Girl on show boat meets gambler, girl marries gambler, girl has baby, gambler leaves girl and baby, and so on and so forth.
Lili (1953)
Starring Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer
Airs March 30 on TCM
After the death of her father, young Lili (Caron) finds herself all alone in a strange town. When a grocery store owner tries to take advantage of her, she is saved by a magician (Jean-Pierre Aumont) who recruits her to work as a waitress in the carnival. She is fired after one night and hits rock bottom until a group of puppets come to her rescue. However, the man behind the puppets (Ferrer) becomes her true rescuer and she ends up rescuing him in return.
Union Station (1950)
Starring William Holden and Nancy Olson
Airs March 31 on TCM
In this film noir, railway cop Bill Calhoun (Holden) encounters Joyce (Olson), a train passenger and secretary to a very wealthy man. On a train ride, she notices two suspicious men and soon her boss’ blind daughter goes missing. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Starring Jean Simmons, Stewart Granger, and Deborah Kerr
Airs March 11 on TCM
Pretty self-explanatory. It’s a biopic of Queen Elizabeth’s early years. The movie centers on Bess’ (Jean Simmons) relationships with her distant father Henry VIII (Charles Laughton) and the dashing Thomas Seymour (Stewart Granger).
Airs March 11 on TCM
Light in the Piazza (1962)
Starring Yvette Mimieux, Olivia de Havilland, and George Hamilton
Airs March 11 on TCM
I know I tend to call a lot of movies “my all-time favorites”, mostly because I don’t have a favorite, but I would probably call this one my favorite DVD-less film. It’s based on a 1960 novella by Elizabeth Spencer that also inspired a Broadway show of the same name.
While on vacation in Italy, American tourist Clara Johnson (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a dashing young Italian (George Hamilton). Their young love is complicated, however, when an accident from Clara’s past is revealed after her mother (Olivia de Havilland) tries to hide it from both her new love and his family.
If I get a chance, I’m going to take a crack at reviewing this film. Cross your fingers. I have yet to get up the motivation to review a film.
Show Boat (1936)
Starring Irene Dunne and Allan Jones
Airs March 16 on TCM
It may be less colorful than the 1951 remake with Keel and Grayson, but that doesn’t mean it’s not as good. I actually prefer this version to the glitzier Technicolor version as do most critics because it’s more faithful to the original stage version. I’m feeling lazy about summing up the plot so here is a nutshell version: Girl on show boat meets gambler, girl marries gambler, girl has baby, gambler leaves girl and baby, and so on and so forth.
Lili (1953)
Starring Leslie Caron and Mel Ferrer
Airs March 30 on TCM
After the death of her father, young Lili (Caron) finds herself all alone in a strange town. When a grocery store owner tries to take advantage of her, she is saved by a magician (Jean-Pierre Aumont) who recruits her to work as a waitress in the carnival. She is fired after one night and hits rock bottom until a group of puppets come to her rescue. However, the man behind the puppets (Ferrer) becomes her true rescuer and she ends up rescuing him in return.
Union Station (1950)
Starring William Holden and Nancy Olson
Airs March 31 on TCM
In this film noir, railway cop Bill Calhoun (Holden) encounters Joyce (Olson), a train passenger and secretary to a very wealthy man. On a train ride, she notices two suspicious men and soon her boss’ blind daughter goes missing. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Well, if you haven’t noticed, the Premio Dardos Award has been circulating around the blog community. I have been fortunate to have the award bestowed upon my humble blog here by Wendymoon, Lolita, and Nicole. Thank you so much for this honor! The rules say that I need to pass it along to five fellow bloggers, but it seems that pretty much everybody has received it already (multiple times). Therefore, I would like to give this award to every single one of you. Enjoy : )
The Dardos Award is given for cultural, literary, and personal values in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing appreciation and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.
6 comments:
Gosh, all of these movies deserve to be on DVD! I love Lili and the original Show Boat. Someone needs to release an Irene Dunne collection-- too many of her films aren't on DVD! I like her singing voice better than Kathryn Grayson, so I like the early version better, too.
Congrats on the Dardos award!! You really deserve it! And I can't wait to read your Light in the Piazza review :)
You certainly deserve the award, I love reading your blogs.
I'll be watching Light in the Piazza and Show Boat soon. I was waiting for the older Show Boat to come on, so I could watch both versions of the movie. Ohh I am looking forward to seeing Lili.
Technical stuff can really be strange... Funny, I didn't know Holden and Olson did another movie together besides Sunset Blvd!
I love this unique section of your blog! It really expands my horizon.
BTW, these are all fairly obscure movies, how do you ever discover them, Genevieve?
I love discovering stuff that not many people are aware of.
:)
Kate: Agreed! Where is the Irene Dunne collection at??
Thanks! I hope to have the review done soon : )
Nicole: Thanks a bunch! I hope you enjoy the movies!
Lolita: Technology+Me=Bad Idea, lol. I guess Union Station is in the shadow of Sunset Boulevard when it comes to the movies they did together.
Nik: Thanks so much! I find them all on TCM. If they synopsis sounds interesting, I'll watch it.
I too like discovering things nobody knows about. I save it up in my bank of knowledge just in case I'm ever on a game show : )
Hi Joannah and welcome to my blog! Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoy it : )
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