Blog Archives
Movie Quote of the Day – Susan and God, 1940 (dir. George Cukor)
Blossom: Why can’t we all be together once in awhile? Why can’t we be some sort of a family, like other people? Why can’t we? Why can’t we? Why can’t we?
Barrie: I didn’t know you felt this way about it. I suspect it’s all my fault.
Blossom: You’re alright, Dad. Why can’t you be like this all the time?
Barrie: It seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Somehow what we mean to be and what we are, are quite different.
Movie Quote of the Day – Sylvia Scarlett, 1935 (dir. George Cukor)
Sylvia Scarlett: You’ve got the mind of a pig.
Jimmy Monkley: It’s a pig’s world.
Movie Quote of the Day – It Should Happen To You, 1954 (dir. George Cukor)
Pete Sheppard: Good luck to you, Gladys. I sure hope you make a name for yourself, if that’s what you want. If that’s what you really want, you’ll get it.
Gladys Glover: How?
Pete Sheppard: I don’t know. Just a theory of mine: that not only ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’. . .but, ‘where’s there’s a way, there’s a will’. See?
Movie Quote of the Day – The Philadelphia Story, 1940 (dir. George Cukor)
Macaulay Connor: C.K. Dexter Haven! Oh, C.K. Dexter Haven!
C. K. Dexter Haven: What’s up?
Macaulay Connor: You are.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Actress, 1953 (dir. George Cukor)
Annie Jones: Ruth, why don’t you give up this going on the stage business and settle down with a nice man?
Ruth Gordon Jones: Oh, mama, don’t be disgusting!
Oscar Vault Monday – Born Yesterday, 1950 (dir. George Cukor)
I absolutely adore this film. Since it was recently added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, I thought it would be a great time to explore this film. It’s one that is often overlooked and I think there’s some irrational anger aimed at it because of Judy Holliday’s win over both Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. and Bette Davis in All About Eve. But I think that is a load of baloney. This is a great film and while Holliday’s performance may not have reached the iconic status of those other two performances, it is most definitely a deserved win. Billie Dawn is a remarkable character and Holliday plays her to perfection. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one: Best B&W Costume Design, Best Screenplay, Best Actress Judy Holliday (won), Best Director and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Father of the Bride, King Solomon’s Mines, Sunset Blvd. and winner All About Eve.
Oscar Vault Monday – Gaslight, 1944 (dir. George Cukor)
God I love this film. I first saw it during Summer Under the Stars in 2010 at about 2 in the morning after having watched five other Bergman films that day. I think I must have dosed off during it because a few months later when I fell really hard for Joseph Cotten and was looking at his filmography, I saw he was one of the co-stars and I didn’t remember his character at all! Luckily, at the TCM Film Festival in 2011, I got a second chance to see the film, this time on the gigantic screen at the Chinese Theater. During that day I had seen two other Cotten films on the big screen (Citizen Kane and Niagara), so I was on a bit of a Cotten high. What a great day that was. And what a great film, too! I now own it (thank you very much Warner Archive!) and have watched it several times. I would be lying if I told you the following look at the film is going to go pretty heavy into Jo Cotten’s wardrobe. Also, it will contain spoilers regarding the plot twist. So if you’ve never seen it before, you might want to look away. Gaslight was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning two: Best B&W Art Director (won), Best B&W Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress Angela Lansbury, Best Actor Charles Boyer, Best Actress Ingrid Bergman (won) and Best Picture. George Cukor was not nominated for Best Director, however. Actually, this was one of those years where Best Director lined up with three of the nominated films, while two director were nominated without Best Picture nominations (Otto Preminger for Laura and Alfred Hitchcock for Lifeboat). The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were Double Indemnity, Since You Went Away, Wilson and winner Going My Way. I should also mention that there is a British version of Gaslight from 1940 that stars Anton Walbrook and Diana Wynyard, though I have yet to see it.
What A Character! – Lew Ayres as Ned Seton in “Holiday”
As part of the What a Character! Blogathon, I decided to take an extended look at Lew Ayres as Ned Seton in George Cukor’s Holiday because not only is Lew Ayres one of my favorite actors, but this is the film that made me fall so hard for him. I also thought I would take this time to remind y’all that Lew Ayres: Hollywood’s Conscientious Objector goes on sale on November 1st. If you will remember, I contributed the foreword to that book and it would mean the world to me if you pre-ordered it; you won’t regret it, I swear.
I am going to go through Lew’s performance as Ned almost scene-by-scene, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, there will be spoilers.
Movie Quote of the Day – The Marrying Kind, 1952 (dir. George Cukor)
Chet Keefer: See the only trouble is I can’t promise it’ll be no different. They way I am, that’s the way I am.
Florrie Keefer: Me too.
Chet Keefer: I know everything wrong with me. Too ambitious, delusions of grandeur and all that.
Florrie Keefer: What about me getting nervous?
Chet Keefer: I get nervous, too, don’t I?
Florrie Keefer: It’s a nervous world.
Chet Keefer: I guess we found that out.
Florrie Keefer: Yeah.
Chet Keefer: Listen, Florrie. . .you think so?
Florrie Keefer: I’m too scared. I mean, when we got together finally the first time, I never imagined it could be different or we could bust up or anything. Now I’d always be thinking about it.
Chet Keefer: What makes you think I’d let you?
Florrie Keefer: What I mean is, at least I’d know it’s possible.
Chet Keefer: Maybe it’s a good thing to know it’s possible.
Florrie Keefer: Maybe.
Chet Keefer: I’d like to make a promise that everything is going to be different. I mean, but how could I promise that? I’ll tell you what I can do. I can tell you I’d certainly try.
Florrie Keefer: I would, too, from the bottom of my heart.
Chet Keefer: So what’s wrong with that? So. . .okay?
Florrie Keefer: If we could only remember not to blame one another when things went the wrong way.
Chet Keefer: So okay I come over there?
Florrie Keefer: I don’t see any stop sign, do you?
Movie Quote of the Day – A Star Is Born, 1954 (dir. George Cukor)
Esther Blodgett: You know as much about me now as I do myself. But you see how long it’s taken me to get this far. Now, all I need is just a little luck.
Norman Maine: What kind of luck?
Esther Blodgett: Oh, the kind of luck that every girl singer with a band dreams of. . .one night a talent scout from a big record company will come in and he’ll let me make a record.
Norman Maine: Yes, and then?
Esther Blodgett: Well, the record will become number one on the Hit Parade, it’ll be played on the jukeboxes all over the country. . .and I’ll be made. End of dream.
Norman Maine: There’s only one thing wrong with that.
Esther Blodgett: I know. . .it won’t happen!
Norman Maine: No, it might happen very easily. . .but the dream isn’t big enough.
the diary of a film history fanatic 