>TOO TRUE! MELODY HAS HEARD (..ER, READ ME HARPING ON THIS BEFORE, PERHAPS, BUT I THINK ONE OF THE MOST DELICIOUS SCENES TO TOUCH UPON WHAT YOU MENTION, PEACHTREEGAL, IS THE DINNER SCENE IN "MARK OF ZORRO".

And don't forget the dance during that scene with the supposedly foppish Don Diego getting poor Lolita all hot and bothered.

>IT'S ALL DONE IN LOOKS AND GLANCES BUT IT'S THERE. SPECIFICALLY, WHEN ALL ARE AT THE TABLE AND BASIL RATHBONE IS ABSENTMINDEDLY STABBING AT AN UNCUT ORANGE. DIEGO MAKES THE COMMENT THAT ESTEBAN IS TREATING THE ORANGE AS AN ENEMY TO WHICH THE BROMBERG/"UNCLE" CHARACTER QUICKLY JUMPS IN WITH, "ESTEBAN IS FOREVER THRUSTING AT THIS AND THAT!"

We know what swords are substitutes for in the movies.

>HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH YOU TWO HERE. THE FILMAKERS WANT TO MAKE QUITE CLEAR--TO ME AT LEAST---THAT THESE TWO ARE FOLLOWING A STRICTLY PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP. THEY MAKE A POINT OF IT WHEN CHECKING IN, WHEN WE SEE THEM (MANY TIMES) IN THEIR SEPARATE ROOMS, AND WHEN CLIVE BERATES MARTY FOR EVEN ASSUMING OTHERWISE (ON PRU BEING A LADY..."THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE IS."

Well, he says that in the book too as I recall (I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure he said it). So after that big clinch by the haystack in the movie... nothing happened? What a waste!

>NO DOUBT YOU ALL HAVE SEEN THIS....

http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Washington-Square-Tyrone-Power/dp/B0019APR6W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1220559035&sr=1-

That's the link to Rose of Washington Square, but I'd like to put in a plug for the entire box set, The Alice Faye Collection Vol. 2. , which has not only Rose, but a bunch of other Alice classics, including another favorite of mine, the delightful Hello, Frisco, Hello, which also stars the wonderful John Payne *sigh* and Jack Oakie (one of my favorite second bananas). "You'll Never Know," a beautiful song forever associated with Alice, was introduced in "Hello, Frisco, Hello."


http://www.amazon.com/Collection-Washington-Hollywood-Cavalcade-Broadcast/dp/B0018RKEQ4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1220560927&sr=1-2

HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH YOU TWO HERE. THE FILMAKERS WANT TO MAKE QUITE CLEAR--TO ME AT LEAST---THAT THESE TWO ARE FOLLOWING A STRICTLY PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP. THEY MAKE A POINT OF IT WHEN CHECKING IN, WHEN WE SEE THEM (MANY TIMES) IN THEIR SEPARATE ROOMS, AND WHEN CLIVE BERATES MARTY FOR EVEN ASSUMING OTHERWISE (ON PRU BEING A LADY..."THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE IS."

There is another part when during the rainstorm Clive and Prue come into an inn and ask for a room. The owner insinuates that they may be up to something "more" and Clive gets pretty upset that the owner would think such a thing, with Clive and Prue ending back in the rain. Ty certainly knows how to give an attitude back, whether in voice, in the eyes, even in mannerisms.

>There is another part when during the rainstorm Clive and Prue come into an inn and ask for a room. The owner insinuates that they may be up to something "more" and Clive gets pretty upset that the owner would think such a thing, with Clive and Prue ending back in the rain. Ty certainly knows how to give an attitude back, whether in voice, in the eyes, even in mannerisms.


Broken record syndrome: that's "right out of the book." That's when they end up at the haystack and you know what happens.

YES, I THINK THEY INTIMATE (STRONGLY?) THAT HE DOES SURVIVE AND HE AND PRU LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. STILL, IT'S NOT 100% CERTAIN AND IT'S INTERESTING HOW ENIGMATIC AN ENDING IT IS FOR A HOLLYWOOD FILM OF THAT ERA. SUPPOSE YOU HAVE TO GIVE THE STUDIO CREDIT FOR THAT.

I guess it's enigmatic -- until you brought it up I had assumed Clive survived. Which brings up other questions, such as, how much would he have recovered from such a traumatic injury and would he be able to return to the Army eventually? We'll never know. :)

HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH YOU HERE AS EVEN WITH REPEATED VIEWINGS IT SUCH A LACKLUSTER LITTLE FILM AND THE PLOT DRAGS--NOT TO MENTION HOW PREDICTABLE IT ALL IS.

I think I'm going to have to go with Melody re Day-time Wife and Second Honeymoon, though those are my initial impressions from just one viewing. I know I'll be watching both again at some point.

>I THINK SHE SO DARNED STIFF AND ALMOST AMATEURISH IN HER PLAYING OF THAT SCENE.

Ironically, The Razor's Edge is my most recent Tyrone Power movie watched, and I just don't recall anything stiff and amateurish in that scene. Other than Gene Tierney always is a bit... unbending. Which is why she is so good playing elegant femme fatales (Laura) or ladies with stiff upper lips (a la The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a great favorite of mine, or the tough-minded Isabel of The Razor's Edge).

>>This is where I'm tempted to wonder to myself if there were any film where he did not have... never mind.

>HHMMM, YES I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN . IT'S A GENERAL CONCESUS THAT HE DIDN'T WANT TO DISPLEASE PEOPLE....LIKED TO KEEP EVERYONE HAPPY,

Well, that's one way of explaining it! LOL

ETC. EVEN AT THE RISK OF....AS YOU SAY ...OR DON'T SAY

No need to say.

...I finished watching all ten movies. This was a very interesting project as I only saw two out of the ten (Luck of the Irish and Daytime Wife) prio to this.

...They're not only a snapshot on Ty's career, but also on their times, showing how a studio would develop (or even halt) a star's career.

.....I will say that the dialogue for these movies tends to be well-written, with wry, clever banter. While some of the trendier slang can be apparent, there is still a savvy that is lost in today's films. It seems like our movie dialogue is "dummed" down in comparison.

AGREED! THOUGHT THE DIALOGUE IN 'LOVE IS NEWS' AND 'SECOND HONEYMOON' IN PARTICULAR, WAS VERY WELL WRITTEN (HAD TO LOVE TP'S EXPRESSION--THAT WRY CYNICAL SMILE, WHEN LORRETA YOUNG'S HUBBY GOES OFF TO DANCE WITH THE MARJORIE WEAVER CHARACTER :-)!)

I DON'T KNOW, I THINK UNLIKE YOU MELODY, SECOND HONEYMOON IS THE BEST SCREWBALL COMEDY HE DID IN THE 30'S. HAVE TROUBLE SITTING THROUGH 'DAYTIME WIFE' AS IT SEEMS A BIT FORCED AND EVEN THOUGH 'LOVE IS NEWS' IS BETTER THAN 'DAYTIME WIFE' (IMHO, AT LEAST :-)..) IT DOESN'T HOLD UP AS WELL AS 2ND HONEYMOON (TP HAD A MORE MATURE ACTING STYLE AT THAT POINT, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ONLY A YEAR LATER, I THINK).

....We see Fox's reply to fans wanting more of Tyrone. We see the eagerness in the younger Ty but the more staid, mature actor in the latter films.

....Girl's Dormitory is a vehicle for Simone Simon, but Ty is dashing as her cousin that she introduces as her "fiance". Very striking presence when he arrives at the school--no wonder everyone wrote in and Hedda Hopper sat through twice to find out who he was.

HAVE NEVER BEEN TOO FOND OF SIMONE SIMONE (TOO MUCH OF THE COY KITTEN IN HER PLAYING) AND IT'S SUCH A ROUTINE FILM.

......I enjoyed Love is News and it's alter ego That Wonderful Urge which is a little more mature, but I actually prefer the original with Loretta Young--more fresh, spunky.

....Cafe Metropole also shows that same spunk, and Ty has some good comedic scenes, and dashing even when fairly drunk, asking for his "eagle" dinner. (Does ANYONE eat eagles????) Good pairing with Loretta Young; entertaining overall.

....Second Honeymoon was like a career "blip" compared to the others. I do like Ty trying to catch up with an overshot ping pong ball and literally falling into a chair and hitting the wall. Now that's timing! I don't know if he was meant to do that, or just did it to finish the scene, but it's pretty fun to watch. (It was actually the highlight of the movie for me which doesn't say much about the film overall.)

....I'll Never Forget You was disturbing to me. I thought the pairing of Ty and Ann Blythe was good, but I came away from it feeling uneasy and not sure why.

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN. I LOOOOOOVE THIS MOVIE HOWEVER. THE TIME TRANSPORT DOES IT FOR ME :-)!. INTERSTING PREMISE. MAYBE IT WAS THE 'REINCARNATION' OF THE ANN BLYTHE CHARACTER THAT YOU FOUND DISTURBING..OR THAT CREEPY HOUSE IN THE MODERN PART OF THE SCENES?

I THINK HIS RELATIVES IN THE 1700'S WERE ALMOST A BIT ON THE NASTY SIDE--ESPECIALLY HIS FIANCE (TALK ABOUT A QUICK TURNOVER TO DISLIKE. SHEESH). THE BLYTHE CHARACTER WAS GREAT, HOWEVER, AND SHE AND TP HAD GOOD CHEMISTRY. WHAT SAY YOU? ALSO, TO BE A BIT OF A TEENYBOPPER HERE, I THINK THE LOVE SCENE WITH BLYTHE IS ON OF THE BEST OF TP'S CAREER...AND THE DIALOGUE DURING THAT SCENE MAKES IT SO, IMHO.

....This Above All was the strongest of the set and it's one I plan to watch again ASAP of this whole collection. The meeting of Ty and Joan Fontaine (as the character Prue) in the dark was beautifully shot. Ty gets to show more of his skill in this. Another strong film was Johnny Apollo which deviates from his more charming roles to a rougher character.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE THIS MOVIE. ONE OF MY ALL TIME TP FAVORITES. IT'S ONE OF THE FEW ROLES WHERE YOU FORGET YOU'RE WATCHING TP AS HE DISAPPEARS INTO THE CHARACTER (ALA 'NIGHTMARE ALLEY'); SUCH AN INTERESTING PREMISE AS WELL.

YES, THAT INTRO SCENE IS A KILLER, AGREE :-)!!



.....Overall, considering they had to pull some of these movies together from whatever material they could find (some of the films have this disclaimer), I thought it a good "snapshot" of Ty's career. For the rest of it, one needs to look at his other films to complete the "album" of Tyrone Power.

Definite thumbs up!

MV

Did they, or didn't they, in This Above All?

In the book, definitely yes. But in the movie... it seems we have a definitive answer as to what the studio was thinking. :) 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck was famous (or infamous) for his lengthy memos which scrutinized scripts from every angle -- his own script-writing attempts were mediocre, but he was a very fine editor of others' work. Rudy Behlmer's book, "Memo From Darryl F. Zanuck," offers many of Zanuck's memos and they are fascinating reading indeed. I had completely forgotten this book published in 1993 was on the shelf (I have a LOT of movie books and I don't always remember what's in my collection) but spotted it the other day and thumbed through for anything on Tyrone Power. And what should appear but the following, in a memo to Jason Joy, Fox director of public relations:

Dear Jason:

I have spent the entire weekend doing nothing but carefully studying this script...

We took a bestselling novel and eliminated the illegitimate pregnancy sequences and the illicit love story...

In the haystack scene which, after all is not a haystack, but a kind of barn-like shelter, Prue and Clive fall in love -- and nothing else...

Why should we assume that they have consummated an illicit affair? What have they said or done, or what do they later indicate to prove that they have gone the whole way?...

*******

So there you have it. :) I admit my view of the movie is colored by reading the book and just what I know of human nature and I keep thinking that off-camera more is going on that Darryl F. Zanuck wanted us to realize but obviously that was not the intent. No mention of Clive's ultimate fate but given Zanuck's view of things, I'm sure he meant for Clive to survive. The memos on Razor's Edge and Nightmare Alley are really interesting -- Zanuck twists himself into knots trying to make these best-selling books palatable to movie audiences. He does "get" the ending of Razor's Edge though, thank goodness, and did not change it. Nightmare Alley, sordid though it was in 1947 (and it's still pretty hard stuff) was greatly softened from William Gresham's novel -- I really recommend that book to anyone who hasn't read it.

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me as it seems like they wanted to make it fairly clear in the film that this was a lilly white relationship. Great info. Peachtree, txs :-)! (I always thought Zanuck was a cut above most movie moguls of his day as he was a filmmaker as well as an executive.)

BTW, I had to chuckle over your statement that you have too many film books. I suffer from the same ailment :-)! The 'worst' period being when I was in college and the majority of my collection was at my parent's house. Needless to say, over 4 yrs. of purchasing resulted in some duplicates once I got home and saw what I had done :-). Ended up donating the dups to the library.