We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
Leaving aside 3 all-star ensemble variety movies in which they both had cameos Ladd and Lake made 4 full-length outings together and here respectively are the adjusted US box office grosses and critical review ratings that Bruce’s tables accord the 4 movies:
1942 This Gun for Hire $97 million, 80% review
1942 The Glass Key $90 million, 74% review
1946 The Blue Dahlia $195 million 79% review
1948 Saigon $150 million $64% review
The Blue Dahlia pleased ME the most of the 4 and it seems that audiences agree with me. Steve’s marvelous pictorials for that movie helped his overall 1946 video earn a 99% rating in my book.
I thought Saigon was the weakest of the 4 and so it seems did Bruce’s sources. Hopefully though when Steve’s 1948 video comes along we’ll get some nice visuals in it for Saigon to mark the closure of the Ladd/Lake series; and I did love that movie in its day despite its relative weakness. Of course in those days I would have enjoyed watching Laddie even if I was blindfolded!
SCREEN TEAMS: You are welcome to The Thin Man and The Thin Woman – if you don’t mind so-so screen chemistry.
I usually don’t let what happens to a star offscreen put me off his/her onscreen work. However Spencer Tracy was such an unpleasant character offscreen and Katie Hepburn had for me such a harsh and grating personality onscreen that I found the pair of them unwatchable.
The Burton and Taylor pairing had droves of fans in their heyday but I have never been one of them. All that shouting and yelling at each other as in Virginia Woolf never appealed to me and I much preferred the “mushy” romantic outings of Rock and Doris. Steve will understand!
So cutting to the chase: for me the most entertaining screen team of all-time on the planet has been Ladd and Lake. More about them in parts 3-5 of this post. They would be followed in my esteem by Rock and Doris with probably Bill Powell and Asta rounding off my top 3.
STEVE to FLORA on 15 Jan [7.37am] “Thanks for commenting, much appreciated. Happy you liked the picture gallery. Next video hopefully on Wednesday.”
I waited about all-day Wednesday so it was a washout for me! However I kept myself amused by listening to a few replays of a song that has long been a fave of mine:
Promises
Promises
Promises, just empty promises
That’s all you gave to me
Right from the start
And all your promises were broken promises
That only left me with a broken heart
Please come back
Then we will start anew
And try to make those promises come true
And try to make those promises come true
“Promises” by English Liverpudlian comedian and songster Ken Dodd. It reached No 6 in the British charts in 1966
Hi Bob, apologies for the lateness of the video rather than the reply this time. Video releases will get more erratic now, so no definite date next week but I will try and upload it by the end of the week. It’s a big one and should be worth the wait.
Thanks again for the review, generous rating (ooh), info and trivia, always appreciated. Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Lots of noir classics in 1946, the top 5 are very famous examples of the genre and the top 2 were practically tied and could have gone either way.
Six films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Strange Love of Martha Ivers, The Killers, Notorious, Gilda, The Big Sleep and Postman Always Rings Twice.
My Video Top 5 –
Notorious 8.9
The Big Sleep 8.8
The Killers 8.4
The Postman Always Rings Twice 8.3
Gilda 8.1
The UMR Critics Top 5 –
Notorious 9.0
The Big Sleep 8.9
The Killers 8.7
Gilda 8.7
The Postman Always Rings Twice 8.5
Bruce and I have the same top 5 in nearly the same order, nice.
IMDB Trivia – The Big Sleep
“In re-cutting the film, Howard Hawks removed the scene in which Marlowe explains the crimes. The film’s success supported his growing conviction that audiences didn’t care if a plot made sense as long as they had a good time. Rumors that Andy Williams dubbed Lauren Bacall’s singing voice are untrue. Both director Howard Hawks and Bacall confirm that she did her own singing. The same rumors persist regarding her singing voice in To Have and Have Not and are equally untrue.
While working on the script, writers William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett couldn’t figure out from the novel who murdered a particular character. So they phoned Raymond Chandler, who angrily told them the answer was right there in the book. They shrugged and returned to their work. Chandler soon phoned to say that he looked at the book himself and couldn’t figure out who killed the character, so he left it up to them to decide.”
HI STEVE: Thanks for the prompt comprehensive reply. Interesting trivia about The Big Sleep and the plot complications. Many people, critics and audiences alike, have complained down the years that they found a lot in the film unfathomable. If Chandler too became confused there is of course an excuse for all the others.
I am currently watching a lot of reruns of the Perry Mason TV series 1957-66 and find some of the stories in the series quite difficult to work out. There’s never any doubt about who the murderer is; but many of the plotlines involve very complicated land deals and the juggling and/or disappearance of large sums of money in mega financial transaction -all reeled off at high speed – so that it could well take an accountant to follow all the twists and turns.
However the point in your post about audiences not caring is well-taken because I am so fascinated with Raymond Burr as Mason that I don’t mind being left in the dark about some aspects of the plots.
I couldn’t resist reciting to you the “Promises of Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd -is there any of those English p*****s who DON’t have a peerage or knighthood? – so I was only kidding you about the lateness of your 1946 video. I am fully aware that you do not have the time on your hands that I do; and it is so rarely that you miss your stated deadlines that I can’t remember when you WERE previously late.
Bottom line anyway: at least you don’t press people to reply to you and then proceed to substantially ignore what they say and/or disregard specific requests for additional information about your material.
I look forward to your next video -don’t be late!! – and meantime keep safe.
thank you
My condolences.
My prayers are with you.