20 More Favorite Actors

Recently I went back and reviewed a 2008 photo post I put together on 20 Favorite Actors.

I found that the majority of the selections still hold true over half a dozen years later, though I would modify it somewhat; at a minimum, I'd now scratch Charlton Heston and Fredric March in favor of Dick Powell and George Brent. I'd consider switching one or two other names, but the rest of the choices still hold true as top favorites several years later.

I was struck that many actors I've come to really enjoy and appreciate didn't even make the "also rans" in 2008 -- a reflection of the fact I've seen approximately 1500 additional movies in the intervening years!

Here's a brand-new list of 20 additional favorite actors. Three of them were "also rans" in 2008, but all of the other names on the list, including this year's runners-up, were not mentioned in my 2008 post.

The 2015 list of 20 More Favorite Actors:

Dick Powell:

George Brent:

Alan Ladd:

Dan Duryea:

Victor Mature:

Preston Foster:

Frank Lovejoy:

Walter Pidgeon:

Jeff Chandler:

George Sanders:

Sterling Hayden:

Zachary Scott:

Chester Morris:

George O'Brien:

John Payne:

Richard Carlson:

William Lundigan:

George Montgomery:

Tim Holt:

John Lund:

Powell, Brent, and Pidgeon were all just below my Top 20 in 2008 but have since moved even higher in my estimation.

This year's runners-up, lingering just outside the Top 20: Rory Calhoun, Tom Conway, Edmond O'Brien, Audie Murphy, Steve Cochran, Rod Cameron, Richard Conte, Mark Stevens, Glenn Ford, and Fred MacMurray. Maybe I should have made a new "Top 30"! Then there's Macdonald Carey, Stephen McNally, Harold Lloyd...

I included Ward Bond in my original Top 20, and there were a few character actors I considered for this list, but I decided I'd make a separate list of favorite character actors at some point down the road, including favorites such as James Millican, Frank Ferguson, Allyn Joslyn, and more.

Previously (2008): 20 Favorite Actors and 20 Favorite Actresses.

Tonight's Movie: Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU (1942) is a World War II film starring Clark Gable and Lana Turner, available as a manufactured-on-demand DVD from the Warner Archive.

SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU reunited Gable and Turner, who had previously costarred in HONKY TONK (1941), released in October 1941. Coincidentally, October 1941 is when the action begins in SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU.

In the months since HONKY TONK's release, Pearl Harbor had been hit, and less than six weeks later Gable's wife, Carole Lombard, was killed in a plane crash while on a war bonds tour. Production of SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU was halted for a month; the bereaved Gable then finished the film and joined the Air Force. He was off the screen until ADVENTURE in 1945.

Likewise, this was costar Robert Sterling's last film before he too joined the Air Force; Sterling didn't return to the screen until THE SECRET HEART in 1946.

Gable and Sterling play Jonny and Kirk, brothers who are war correspondents. Both are in love with Paula (Turner), another reporter.

The plot of this 108-minute movie plods along with a lot of talk, a little heat from Gable and Turner, and not much action until late in the movie. Jonny and Paula have a relationship in which they repeatedly pull close, then one of them pushes the other away.

Paula tries to convince herself to love Kirk, the more responsible brother, but can't help her attraction to the exasperating Jonny, who feels guilty for wanting his brother's girl. Meanwhile the war draws ever closer.

Ultimately Jonny, Kirk, and Paula all end up on Bataan -- Jonny as a war correspondent, Kirk in the army, and Paula serving with the Red Cross. Jonny dictates what might be a final report to Paula as the bombs fall. The End, and be sure to buy war bonds before leaving the theater.

I have a soft spot for SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU since it's a movie I recall watching on L.A.'s KTTV Ch. 11 when I was a kid, but it's the least of the three Gable-Turner films I've seen, the others being the entertaining HONKY TONK and the very fine HOMECOMING (1948). (I'll be watching 1954's BETRAYED in the future.) SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU just doesn't go much of anywhere, at least until the war starts. The film's main pleasure is simply basking in the presence of two gorgeous superstars.

The movie does have a nice cast, and it's particularly fun to see a very young Van Johnson and Keenan Wynn in early roles as soldiers; this was Wynn's film debut. Frank Faylen is an army driver. Grady Sutton and Dorothy Morris play a couple eating in a private dining room which Jonny wants to commandeer.

The cast also includes Lee Patrick, Reginald Owen, Patricia Dane, Charles Dingle, Keye Luke, Sara Haden, Rags Ragland, Leonid Kinskey, and Douglas Fowley.

SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU was directed by Wesley Ruggles and filmed in black and white by Harold Rosson.

The Warner Archive DVD is a fine print. The disc includes the trailer.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from Amazon and other online retailers.

Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the internet...

...My February column for ClassicFlix is on lesser-known and underrated romantic movies. Please click on over for my suggestions of 10 favorite movie romances.

...Kristina's latest reviews at Speakeasy include the wonderful Joel McCrea Western directed by Jacques Tourneur, WICHITA (1955), and a crime movie I hope to watch soon, HIGHWAY 301 (1950), starring Steve Cochran.

...Portraits by Jenni reviews Joel McCrea's COLORADO TERRITORY (1950), which I'll be watching later this year.

...It's a Joel McCrea week here, as Friday evening my husband and I plan to see McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck in UNION PACIFIC (1938), shown as part of UCLA's Cecil B. DeMille series.

...An interesting article at Wired: "Amazon Prime is One of the Most Bizarre Good Business Ideas Ever."

...At Out of the Past, Raquel has posted great suggestions on how she budgets to afford attending the TCM Classic Film Festival.

...At Blog of the Darned, Chris Sturhann shares news on the roles he and his teenaged daughter will have as TCM "social media producers" at the upcoming TCM Classic Film Festival.

...Dean Street Press has announced that George Sanders' autobiography MEMOIRS OF A PROFESSIONAL CAD is coming back into press as an eBook. I'll be reviewing that book in the next few weeks. I was fascinated to learn that Sanders also wrote two mysteries in the '40s, CRIME ON MY HANDS and STRANGER AT HOME, which will also be available for Kindle, Nook, and other e-reader formats. (P.S. See more information on the mysteries in the comments!)

...Frank Sinatra's granddaughter, A.J. Lambert, reflects on her grandmother, Nancy Sinatra Sr., for Vanity Fair.

...Here's Leonard Maltin with information on the new book THE DAWN OF TECHNICOLOR 1915-1935. I linked to another review of the book last month.

...The latest movie discussed at Riding the High Country is Gregory Peck's THE GUNFIGHTER (1950), which was on my "10 Classics" list in 2013.

...Efforts to save the Bay Theatre in Seal Beach don't seem to be going anywhere due to a lack of interest by the building's owner.

...Speaking of Seal Beach, our local Marie Callender's has closed after 45 years. Sad to see it go.

...For anyone who missed it, here's TCM Remembers Lizabeth Scott.

...Notable Passings: Los Angeles lost two broadcast legends last week, radio announcer Gary Owens, who passed on at 80, and KTLA reporter Stan Chambers, who died at 91.

...Thanks to Bob Joles for his timely tip on the brand-new book LOS ANGELES TELEVISION, a history by Joel Tator.

...For more recent links, please visit last week's roundup!

...Disney fans will also want to be sure to check out last week's Disney News roundup of links on Disney movies, books, and theme park news.

Have a great week!

Quick Preview of TCM in May

Turner Classic Movies recently posted the channel's tentative May schedule.

May will be an exciting month on TCM, including Sterling Hayden as the Star of the Month!

Over 20 Sterling Hayden movies will be shown every Wednesday evening in May. There are some truly outstanding lineups, including a night of film noir, another of aviation and war films, an evening of Westerns, and a night of eclectic titles which include DR. STRANGELOVE (1964).

In a perfect world the lineup would have also included his two pre-war films, VIRGINIA (1941) and BAHAMA PASSAGE (1941), both for Paramount, or his first film after he was off the screen for six years, BLAZE OF NOON (1947), along with some other hard-to-find titles such as Universal's charming TAKE ME TO TOWN (1953). However, those films are from studios which are more expensive for TCM to license, and the movies that TCM does have in the lineup are excellent, underscoring what a terrific career Hayden had.

The May Friday Night Spotlight will shine on Orson Welles. All the films one would expect will be on hand for the Welles nights, featuring his work both in front of and behind the camera. I'm particularly intrigued by the unfinished TOO MUCH JOHNSON (1938) starring Joseph Cotten.

I'm particularly excited about a day paying tribute to the lovely Anne Jeffreys, recently reviewed here in TRAIL STREET (1947) and RETURN OF THE BAD MEN (1948). The talented actress and singer, who was Mrs. Robert Sterling off the screen, will be seen in eight films, ranging from films where she had bit parts to larger roles in some rarely shown titles which I look forward to checking out.

Other May tributes include Greta Garbo, Frank Capra, Cesar Romero, Gary Cooper, Katharine Hepburn, James Mason, James Stewart, Doris Day, and Laurence Olivier.

May themes include secretaries, nurses, sons, Rome, shipwrecks, and airplane disasters. As usual, Memorial Day Weekend will be devoted to war films.

I'll have a more detailed look at the May schedule around April 30th. In the meantime, Ann Sothern will be Star of the Month in March, while April will celebrate the centennial of Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn, born April 21, 2015.

Update: For much more information on TCM in May 2015, please visit TCM in May: Highlights and TCM Star of the Month: Sterling Hayden.

Tonight's Movie: Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)

When I heard the news today of the passing of Louis Jourdan, one of the first of his movies I thought of was THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954).

It's been perhaps a dozen years since I last saw it, and I immediately knew it would be the perfect film to close out the weekend while paying tribute to a wonderful actor.

In the years since I last saw the movie we've acquired a much bigger TV, and it was a real treat to enjoy the movie's gorgeous CinemaScope Italian vistas on a large television! The Fox Studio Classics DVD is a really fine print of a beautiful movie.

The film opens with an overture of sorts, with Frank Sinatra singing the classic Cahn-Styne title song while the audience is given a tour of Rome, and particularly its fountains, by cinematographer Milton R. Krasner. I remember the first time I saw the movie, I was a bit confused, as I kept expecting the titles to start, which doesn't happen till after the song is finished. In recent years MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (2011) successfully emulated the idea, with a wonderfully scored, beautifully photographed tour of Paris.

Over the years 20th Century-Fox made countless movies with the theme of three women looking for husbands, and here we are again with three beautiful women in Rome, secretaries played by Jean Peters, Maggie MacNamara, and Dorothy McGuire.

Peters falls in love with a poor translator (Rossano Brazzi) who works at the U.S. agency where she's employed, but American employees are forbidden to date "local" coworkers. MacNamara plots to capture a handsome prince (Jourdan), studying his habits and pretending to like all of the same things. And McGuire has been carrying a torch for her crochety boss (Clifton Webb), a writer, for 15 years.

It's quite a pleasant story, though it has its flaws; for instance, the couple I wanted to see the most of, Brazzi and Peters, were given the least screen time. This might have been because they have the least conflict; it also feels as though they had a scene or two left on the cutting-room floor, between the point where she goes to see him when he loses his job and the scene where she's crying because he's dumped her.

MacNamara puts a spin on the same chirpy type of character she played the previous year in THE MOON IS BLUE (1953); she talks less, but the extent of her deceipt of her dream prince is a bit troubling. She admirably owns up to it, realizing she can't have him under false pretenses, but once that's settled, one wishes there were a scene or two showing things they really do have in common! The movie runs 102 minutes, but with three stories going on it could have stood to be a few minutes longer.

The third and final flaw is it's way too obvious at times when stand-ins are at the various locations in long shots, such as on the trip to Venice, with inserts of the lead actors filmed against back projections. That said, it's refreshing that, other than the back projections, everything shown is real -- no CGI!

Putting aside the movie's imperfections, this is such a lovely "feel good" movie! There are plenty of scenes the actors themselves filmed in Italy (which makes one wonder why they didn't do all the location scenes without the fakery). The most exquisite sequence is when Brazzi takes Peters to his family's celebration on the farm -- the wide green vistas seem as though they might have inspired some of the look of Fox's THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) a decade later. The two films even have the same costumer, Dorothy Jeakins.

Aside from the location shooting in Italy, the interiors are fantastic, especially the girls' apartment, a marvel of art design and set decoration. I don't think I fully appreciated the great '50s look the last time I saw the movie, and it's pure eye candy.

And speaking of eye candy, a movie that has both Jourdan and Brazzi? Every aspect of this film is handsome.

The final scene, with wishes filled as the title song swells, brought a tear to my eye. How could it not? It's a perfect slice of Hollywood in Rome, and it was a lovely way to remember six wonderful actors, including the last of the group to pass away, Louis Jourdan.

THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN was directed by Jean Negulesco.

In addition to the DVD, THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN is available to rent for streaming from Amazon Instant Video, and it had a release on VHS.

Louis Jourdan, 1921-2015

Sad news to report today: Actor Louis Jourdan has passed away at the age of 93.

Jourdan would be beloved to fans of musicals if he'd made only one film in his career, Vincente Minnelli's GIGI (1958). In that movie Jourdan was part of what is, to my thinking, one of the most joyous scenes ever filmed, "The Night They Invented Champagne."

I also especially enjoyed his film THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954), and I have fond memories of a childhood viewing of the 1975 TV-movie THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, which Jourdan starred in with Richard Chamberlain, Trevor Howard, Donald Pleasence, and Tony Curtis. (Update: Here's a brand-new review of THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN.)

Other Jourdan films previously reviewed here are LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (1948), THE HAPPY TIME (1952), THE SWAN (1956), and JULIE (1956). JULIE was recently shown at the Noir City Festival in San Francisco, and I'm hopeful it will also be on the schedule for Noir City Hollywood this April.

Additional notable Louis Jourdan films include THE PARADINE CASE (1947), MADAME BOVARY (1949), BIRD OF PARADISE (1951), ANNE OF THE INDIES (1951), THE V.I.P.s (1963), and OCTOPUSSY (1983). He also narrated the wonderful Billy Wilder comedy LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON (1957).

Variety reports that a biography and documentary about Jourdan's life are in the works.

There is video on the web of the Ambassador of France honoring Louis Jourdan with the Légion d'Honneur in 2010. Jourdan looked wonderful! Such an elegant man. Kirk Douglas and Sidney Poitier were present to see their friend honored.

Louis Jourdan passed on at his home in Beverly Hills. I anticipate he will be buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park, where he and his wife Quique saved a plot alongside their son, who passed away in 1981. I photographed the marker on a visit early in 2014. Quique died last year, after I visited the cemetery.

Additional obituaries have been published by The Hollywood Reporter and People.

Update: Here is the obituary from the Los Angeles Times.

Tonight's Movie: Carson City (1952) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

I'm moving right along in my quest to catch up with previously unseen Randolph Scott Westerns. CARSON CITY (1952) was my fifth Scott Western in the last three weeks! It's available from the Warner Archive as part of the Randolph Scott Classics Collection.

Of the five Scott Westerns I've seen since late January, my favorite was GUNFIGHTERS (1947), released by Columbia. I'd rank the Warner Bros. film CARSON CITY as a solidly entertaining Scott film which falls around the mid-range of the five films.

In CARSON CITY Scott plays Jeff Kincaid, an engineer hired to put in a railroad to run between Carson City and Virginia City. This doesn't sit well with Jack Davis (Raymond Massey) and Jim Squires (James Millican), who head up the "Champagne Bandits"; if the railroad goes through the bandits will lose the ability to easily rob the stagecoach line!

Some in Carson City fear that the railroad will bring problems to town; among them is Jeff's half-brother Allen (Richard Webb), who works alongside Susan (Lucille Norman) at the local newspaper. Allen is also jealous of Susan's clear admiration for Jeff, cementing conflict between the brothers.

The movie has a handful of standout moments, chief among them being when Millican draws on Scott in the saloon. Millican promptly has his gun shot out of his hand, and as Scott angrily twirls his gun back into his holster, he tells Millican not to draw if he can't back it up.

There are a few other nice moments like that but for the most part it's a very straightforward film, told at a brisk pace but without a great deal of originality. Sometimes, though, a standard Western like this really hits the spot.

Massey was also the villain in Scott's SUGARFOOT (1951). He's particularly effective as a man who is all smiles and courteousness on the outside, while inwardly seething.

I enjoyed Lucille Norman as one of the leads in the musical PAINTING THE CLOUDS WITH SUNSHINE (1951), but here she's a pretty run-of-the mill Western heroine. She has moments where she shows a bit of spunk but all in all she's a fairly average leading lady.

The cast also includes Don Beddoe, Larry Keating, Thurston Hall, and Vince Barnett.

CARSON CITY runs 87 minutes. It was directed by Andre De Toth (RAMROD) and filmed in Warnercolor by John Boyle. The movie was shot at Southern California movie ranches. I felt pretty certain that the mining camp in CARSON CITY was previously seen in the Warner Bros. Western BARRICADE (1950), which also costarred Raymond Massey.

In addition to the five-film Randolph Scott Classics Collection, CARSON CITY can be purchased from the Warner Archive as a single-title release.

The Warner Archive DVD is perfectly watchable, though it must be admitted this is not one of their sharper-looking releases. The film is quite grainy at times. I suspect at least part of the DVD print quality is due to the fact it was shot in Warnercolor, which tends to look harsh even at its best. There are a couple other noticeable flaws, but this film was a very early Archive release when the emphasis was on putting the movies out "as is." In more recent years, of course, many of the movies released by the Archive are remastered. This disclaimer aside, this is a title Randolph Scott fans will want to have in their collections. There are no extras.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD collection. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from Amazon and other online retailers.