Thursday, January 22
My Favorite: 42nd Street (8:00 pm)
Most Likely to DVR: Smartest Girl in Town (10:00 am)
Never Saw, But Should: All About Eve (11:45 pm)
Okay, this post starts out with a lie. Sunset Boulevard (1950) is actually my favorite film airing today, but I’ve covered it extensively on things-and-other-stuff.com, so I’m going to go with 42nd Street, which I also love. I will include some excerpts from my earlier Sunset Boulevard review down the page a little just in case you can’t make it over to the other site.
Ann Sothern once again dominates the morning and afternoon, and after enjoying Maisie so much a week or two ago, I’m willing to give Sothern the Most Likely to DVD nod. Since I went through all of my Ann Sothern images on file during my Maisie posts, I’ll give Smartest Girl in Town (1936) and Walking on Air (1936) mention just to note that her co-star is Gene Raymond in both movies. And so, here’s Gene Raymond:
1930s Gene Raymond Cigarillos Okey Card
All About Eve (1950) I actually still have on my DVR from TCM’s last airing of it. I’ll get to it one of these days, but for now the 139 minute run-time continues to get it pushed down the queue in favor of quicker movies. Bad, I really shouldn’t do that. Plus I’d really like to see what was possibly strong enough to beat out Sunset Boulevard (1950) for Best Picture and Best Director!
And now, from my other site, a little about Sunset Boulevard (be warned there are spoilers over there):
If you’ve never seen it before, well I don’t know how you pulled that one off. First, it’s a must for fans of both silent and classic Golden Age cinema. Second, it’s a must if even you’re sixteen years old and being exposed to an “old” black and white film for the first time. Why? This movie, now 56 years old is reality TV before that concept was even a notion. Let’s take the cameras and examine the life of one of the biggest stars in film, twenty years after they were big. This is it, Norma Desmond exposed to the bone for you to laugh at and hopefully feel for as well. On the commentary track Ed Sikov, author of “On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder”, even invokes the names of O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake when discussing the famed final scene of this film. Now, if you’re still reading this and have never seen Sunset Boulevard before, well first I don’t know why you’ve read this far, but if you’re that interested it’s time to leave the site, buy or rent the movie and come back afterwards.
Finally, 42nd Street (1933) gets prime time airing at 8 pm tonight. First off, please note that I don’t like musicals. In fact, I’ll go a step further and say musicals are my least favorite genre. I just don’t get it, going about your daily business and breaking into song, that does nothing for me. But these old Busby Berkeley musicals do it differently, they’re musicals based around creating a musical and usually culminate with the big performance that everything previous has been leading up to. This I like. In fact I like it enough to have bought both of the Busby Berkeley box sets.
1930s Warner Baxter Fan Photo
Warner Baxter and Bebe Daniels, who especially proves her talents in every which way here, are the main leads. The rest of the cast is like a who’s who of Warner Brothers character actors, with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler figuring big. George Brent makes time with both the classy leading lady played by Daniels and the up and coming hoofer Keeler. Ginger Rogers and Una Merkel are a fun wise-cracking pair. Regulars Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Allen Jenkins are on the scene as well.
Warren and Dubin classics such as “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” “Young and Healthy,” and, of course, “Forty Second Street” feature prominently in this light-hearted look at the behind the scenes world of showbiz deep inside The Great Depression. Baxter is successful producer Julian Marsh, struggling to produce his latest show under the grip of Abner Dillon’s (Guy Kibbee) financial backing. Dillon’s investment sways with the affections of star Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), who’s then forced to sneak around with handsome young Pat Denning (George Brent) when Dillon isn’t paying attention. Juvenile Billy Lawler (Dick Powell) does his best to make an impression on newcomer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), but Sawyer sways some for Pat Denning as well. All these parts eventually grind away and blow up leading to a big chance in the spotlight for Peggy Sawyer.
1936 Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler R95 Premium
So, okay, 42nd Street is no Sunset Boulevard, but they’re really not films that can be compared side by side. I’ll say this, 42nd Street will be one of the funnest films you’ve seen in awhile, and at a tight 90 minutes you’ll find yourself wishing there was more when it ends. That’s when you buy the box set
What do you think? Feel free to chime in with your own opinions and recommendations about Thursday the 22nd’s programming. In the meantime, Happy Viewing!
Be sure to check out rare movie collectibles inside the VintageMeld featuring stars like those mentioned here:
Inventory for things-and-other-stuff’s booth: Real time RSS feed for thingsandotherstuff’s items.
Tags: busby berkeley, movie collectibles, Movie Reviews, musicals, Oscars
1926 Gallaher “Cinema Stars” Tobacco Cards issued by Gallaher Ltd. out of Belfast & London. 100 card set. Measures 1-1/2″ x 2-1/2″.
1948 Dinkie Grips card from Series 3 covering MGM films. Full cards with unpunctured “grips” area at bottom measure approximately 2-1/8″ X 4-1/4″. Issued out of Birmingham, England by Dinkie Products with ad on back for Dinkie Grips as well as other Dinkie Products (Dinkie Curlers and Wavesetters).
1939 Gallaher “My Favourite Part” Tobacco Cards issued out of London, measuring approximately 1-1/2″ X 2-1/2″.
