Joan

Joan Greenwood: Perhaps my favourite Joan - how we like her. It was a treat seeing the 1952 THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST on TV again (though as my dear friend Martin says, I have the dvd/bluray so can watch it anytime...). Joan as Gwendolyn ....

Joan as Sybilla in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, 1949, and as Peggy Macroon in that year's WHISKEY GALORE! and of course there's her "notorious" Lady Bellaston in TOM JONES in '63, and in films like MOONFLEET and THE MOONSPINNERS, and with Gerard Philipe in KNAVE OF HEARTS in 1954.

I have done several posts on Joan (1921-1987), one of the first "People We Like" on here - as per label - and was lucky to catch her on stage with the equally marvellous Gladys Cooper in a revival of THE CHALK GARDEN in 1971 - I really should have met her then ... her voice of course was unique too. 

Joan with Stewart Granger and George Sanders in one of my favourite Fifties movies, which I loved a a kid: Fritz Lang's MOONFLEET, 1955 She and Granger were also the doomed lovers in that great Ealing film, SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS, in 1948.

People We Like: Gerard Philipe

KNAVE OF HEARTS, 1954

It was tragic that Gerard Philipe (1922-1959) died so young, of cancer, aged 36 in 1959 - just as those new guys Delon and Belmondo were taking off. (that other attractive French actor Henri Vidal also died that year, aged 40 - of a heart attack). Philipe was such an attractive presence and would surely have achieved so much more. He didn't even need to go to Hollywood ... his first big hit was FANFAN LA TULIPE in 1952 for Christian-Jacque, with luscious Gina Lollobrigida, its still a delicious adventure now.

KNAVE OF HEARTS (or MONSIEUR RIPOIS) Rene Clement’s 1954 film about a romantic Frenchman on the loose in London and his conquests, including young Joan Greenwood at her loveliest – their scenes in the rain are very lyrical. It is cleverly done with Clement shooting on the streets of London (with mostly hidden cameras) 5 years before the New Wave were doing the same in Paris. The fillm exists in French and English versions and it was great seeing it again at the BFI on the big screen a few years ago.

Philipe is mesermising with those soulful eyes magnified on the large screen –  He is one of the LA RONDE merry-go-round in Ophuls 1950 classic. I still have several others of his lined up to watch in that 'pending pile': THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA, LE ROUGE ET LE NOIR, BELLES DE NUIT, POT BOULLE.

LES AMANTS DE MONTPARNASSE is a standard biopic from 1957 about painter Modigliani starving in a garret in Paris, Philipe is just right here with Anouk Aimee and Lilli Palmer as his contrasting lovers ...

In all he clocked up 35 credits, according to IMDB - so he crammed a lot into those 36 years!. Vadim's 1959 LES LAISIONS DANGEROUSES with Jeanne Moreau sees him in a last main leading role - I have already reviewed it here - Philipe, Moreau labels. His final film, FEVER MOUNTS AT EL PAO, a Mexican oddity by Luis Bunuel is now available on dvd and blu-ray. We will continue enjoying seeing Gerard Philipe on screen ...

The 1959 "Who's Who in Hollywood" says: "GERARD PHILIPE of Rouge et Noir and Lovers of Paris is to French audiences what Bill Holden, Tab Hunter and Cary Grant are to Americans (or Dirk Bogarde to the British). And "art house" devotees here are pretty gone on him too. A leading star of the French theatre Gerard was recently in this country with the Theatre National Populaire, as actor-director. The dark-haired, boyish-looking charmer started his career at 19 and has been happily married for several years". 

Thats a double bill!: Barbarella and American Gigolo

For those who saw them initially, or over the years, AMERICAN GIGOLO and BARBARELLA are the height of fashion and glamour and define the 1960s and the 1980s. So, as they were both on Sky Movies the same day (saves getting the dvds out...) let head off once again in Barbarella's space ship and enjoy the lush life as we cruise along with Richard as that Giorgio Moroder soundtrack sets the mood ...

The initial poster we liked

After experiencing Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER last week, scripted by Paul Schrader, now its back to his 1980 breakthrough movie AMERICAN GIGOLO which for me kickstarted the 1980s. I could rhapsodize about this for hours, and have, as per previous posts - see American Gigolo label.  Here though is David Thompson from his huge tome: "Have You Seen..."

"Paul Schrader directs from his own script and puts his every love and desire into the picture, so it thrills to the pulse of disco music, voyeuristic sex, Robert Bresson, the LA light, the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, driving on the freeway in a convertible, the “privacy” of Palm Springs, and the infinite blossom of corruption in Southern California. It is often like an advertisement (shot with exquisite taste by John Bailey), and it delights in streamlining moderne-ism and the sultry swish of the passing moment. The whole thing is poised on an edge where collapse or public mirth are equal possibilities, yet it survives and brings its fatuous Sirkian plot to a lovely finale. Within the delirium of cliches and pretension, something absolutely true strides forward, personified by Gere’s lounging walk and his shameless attitudinizing. This was a new kind of riveting trash. If you want to know about American in 1980, then go to American Gigolo and Raging Bull."

Looking at it this time, I was riveted by Lauren Hutton - Gere is so extraordinary here that one initially tends to overlook her, but she is the complex heart of the film and delivers exactly what is required. Whether its Gere's Julian in THAT apartment, or laying out his Armani clothes to that perfect Smokey Robinson track, or Moroder's soundtrack (I had it on vinyl and cd) pounding as he drives to Palm Springs, or "Love and Passion" by Cheryl Barnes as he enters the gay disco ---- Scharader's Calvinist upbringing makes this seem like a circle of hell - it is all a perfect re-working of Bresson's PICKPOCKET as Julian has to turn on himself and wreck his apartment to find those stolen jewels ... and then that moment of redemption. Schrader continued his obsessions with that remake of CAT PEOPLE in 1982 another glossy sexy exercise, as per my review, Schrader label. As much as I like Gere here, after Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN and Schlesigner's YANKS, I had no desire to see him in most of his following films. This is what I said a while back:  He is so central to the movie, like how Antonioni idealised David Hemmings in BLOW-UP.

I will have to upgrade mine to Blu-ray - as a great looking movie its up there with BARRY LYNDON, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, THE LEOPARD or THE GREAT BEAUTY. 
Here is some more on it:  http://altscreen.com/03/02/2012/thursday-editors-pick-american-gigolo-1980/

BARBARELLA, 1968, by contrast is a dated, throwaway comic strip but not without its own amusements, a key 60s movie certainly, with some great sequences and imagery, not least David Hemmings as the revolutionary, John Philip Law as the blind, blond angel Pygar, Milo O'Shea as Duran Duran, those dolls with the teeth - and Anita Pallenberg's evil Queen with designs on our heroine and who is surely voiced by the unique Joan Greenwood, and of course Jane's wide-eyed innocent in and out of those amazing costumes. A lot of fun all-round then, almost as good as MODESTY BLAISE! 

Costume drama heaven with Tom and Lady Caroline

What bliss over this bad weather to watch that 1963 hit TOM JONES again, and also to see a rare screening of the 1972 LADY CAROLINE LAMB on television. I have dvds of both, but nice to see them getting an airing. 

TOM JONES of course is utter bliss, a perfect costume version of the huge Fielding novel, but also capturing that early 1960s spirit too, as Tony Richardson's inventive direction deconstructs and re-creates the novel, using all those split cuts, razor sharp editing, characters talking to the camera and so on. Albert Finney is perfect here, and has great scenes with Susannah York delightful as Sophie Western, Diane Cilento, Joyce Redman (that food scene at the inn!) , and Joan Greenwood as the very demanding Lady Bellaston: "Sir, I know not of country matters, but in town it is considered impolite to keep a lady waiting". Indeed! Tom and Lady Bellaston meet at the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (below), where as Micheal McLiammoir's fruity narration puts it people go "to do and to be undone".

Then there is the divine casting of Dame Edith Evans and Hugh Griffith at that country estate, where Dame Edith is appalled at the rude country manners, and has short patience with the highwayman holding up her coach with his "Stand and deliver", to which she retorts: "What, sir, I am no travelling midwife"!, Rosalind Knight as Mrs Fitzpatrick, another randy lady, and Peter Bull and young David Warner as Tom's rivals. Young Lynn Redgrave pops up too. Its a constant delight and deserved all the Oscars and applause, and it of course set up Richardson and Woodfall Films to make their less successful films, like those two with Jeanne Moreau: THE SAILOR FROM GIBRALTAR and MADEMOISELLE. 

I have written about LADY CAROLINE LAMB here before - see Sarah Miles label. But I wrote this yesterday on a friend's review of it on Facebook:

Glad you liked it - I looked at it again last night - its marvellously done and maybe the last of the great British costume dramas (well, there's Lester's ROYAL FLASH in 1975). I have always liked Miss Miles (she seems retired now - her last credit, guesting in a Miss Marple was over a decade ago, but I saw her last year with her THE SERVANT co-stars at a special screening for the blu-ray launch of the Losey classic, and she looked fine then, of course as Bolt's widow - they married twice - she probably doesnt need to work now). But I digress (and namedrop), as usual - she also did 2 other iconic 60s movies : Antonioni's BLOW-UP and I WAS HAPPY HERE. Bolt indeed assembles a great cast - 

Leighton has another superb role (after Losey's THE GO-BETWEEN the previous year), Olivier (back with Miles after TERM OF TRIAL), Richardson, Mills etc all shone, and Jon Finch was the man of the moment (starring for Polanski and Hitchcock too then)., handsome sets and score by Richard Rodney Bennett - and Chamberlain an effective Byron. Leighton gets the last word and its perfect! The scene with Caroline as the blackamoor servant to Byron is fun, as Lady Caroline goes over the top and becomes "notorious"; she was surely an early drama queen as her histrionics and capacity for making scenes becomes rather tedious. 

Lady Caroline and the Bad Lord Byron

LADY CAROLINE LAMB, A welcome tv outing for Robert Bolt’s neglected 1972 (it might have opened in 1973) labour of love for his wife Sarah Miles – as if RYAN’S DAUGHTER wasn’t enough! He directs this one as well as writing the story of the outrageous Lady Caroline who scandalises Regency society with her affairs, particularly with that rock star of the time, Lord Byron – whom Richard Chamberlain plays as to the manner born (as good as his Tchaikovsky for Ken Russell). 

That leading man of the era Jon Finch (who also toplined Polanski’s MACBETH and Hitch’s FRENZY those years) is her husband, prime minister William Lamb, who loves her unconditionally until she goes too far. Margaret Leighton (right) has another great role (after 1971’s THE GO-BETWEEN) as his mother, the formidable Lady Melbourne – who also had affairs of her own, but discreetly – who despises Caroline's indiscretions and tries to prevent their marriage, as The King (Ralph Richardson) puts it: "A statesman cannot have a notorious wife"!. She gets a great last line at the end – when told that Lady Caroline has died of a broken heart, she pauses, and retorts "wouldn't she"!

Add in Laurence Olivier enjoying himself as the powerful Duke of Wellington dispensing largesse (and good advice to Lady Caroline when they are in bed), Ralph Richardson as George IV, John Mills, Pamela Brown, Peter Bull, Sonia Dresdel and others and it’s another feast of English acting talent – I spotted Michael Wilding (Leighton’s husband) too. Bolt tells his story well as Lady Caroline falls for The Bad Lord Byron, even dressing topless as a blackamoor and following his carriage through the London streets, and finally has to separate from her husband so his career can progress. Richard Rodney Bennet provides a good score and it all looks great, shot in the real country houses and estates. 

The problem though is Lady Caroline herself – Sarah Miles is one of our favourites here, I have liked her in a lot of things, from THE SERVANT and TERM OF TRIAL to I WAS HAPPY HERE and BLOW-UP, as per labels, but she is so annoying here one feels like she deserves all she gets as she capriciously goes almost demented and tries the patience of everybody. 
Good to see it again though, 40 years later … its as fascinating a time-capsule costumer as Richardson’s CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE or Attenborough’s OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR. Costume dramas hardly get dottier or more fun ! -
 well apart from that '40s version of the story, THE BAD LORD BYRON as essayed by Dennis Price and Joan Greenwood (right), being delicious as usual as Lady Caroline. 

Sarah of course went on to more notoreity with her later '70s films like THE MAN WHO LOVED CAT DANCING and THE SAILOR WHO FELL FROM GRACE WITH THE SEA, as per label.

Roy or Wendy ? Girl stroke boy ?

Gender reversal and transgender movies have mainly been played for laughs, and have provided some actors with their most successful roles .... think Dustin Hoffman as TOOTSIE in '82, or Robin Williams as MRS DOUBTFIRE in 1993, going back to 1959 Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis had to be filmed in black and white (to Marilyn Monroe's annoyance) and decked in 1920s fashions to pass as Daphne and Josephine in SOME LIKE IT HOT (still the best comedy ever), then there was MYRA BRECKINRIDGE

  .... plus of course cross-dressing has been a comedy staple since FIRST A GIRL and the original VIKTOR UND VIKTORIA (see 1930s label) in the 1930s, the era of the music halls and OLD MOTHER RILEY, and Julie Andrews had her last big success with VICTOR AND VICTORIA in 1982. 
The subject has hardly been treated seriously until TRANSAMERICA, and of course Glenn Close labooured over ALBERT NOBBS (above), where she was quite convincing too (2000s label), but back in 1972 there was I WANT WHAT I WANT, hot on the heels of the gender bender comedy GIRL STROKE BOY in 1971 - I caught that during its brief run as it starred my great favourite, Joan Greenwood. Interesting to catch both these latter two now on dvd ...

DANGEROUS EXILE, 1957

The early '70s was that field day for tacky comedies or dramas in British cinema, we have already looked at DORIAN GRAY, GOODBYE GEMINI, BITTER HARVEST, ALL COPPERS ARE, THE NIGHT DIGGER, MY LOVER MY SON - see British/Trash labels. 

So, I WANT WHAT I WANT:

This is a serious drama, though still rather tacky with that early '70s look, produced by Raymond Stross (sometimes known as the poor man's Carlo Ponti) and starring his wife, Anne Heywood. 

Anne's usual glamour

Heywood was a beauty queen who was popular in the 1950s in British Rank Organisation movies - here she is (above) with Belinda Lee in the 1957 DANGEROUS EXILE, and she was Michael Craig's wife in the good 1959 comedy UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS, in 1967 she was a sensation in THE FOX, one of the first films to depict lesbian relationships, where she and Sandy Dennis are happy until Keir Dullea comes calling ... She also starred opposite the likes of Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Stanley Baker, Richard Todd, and played meaty roles like a raped wife, a lesbian (daring at the time) and now a transexual ...
Here is the blurb:

Based on the sensational best seller I WANT WHAT I WANT helped pave the way for the release of many other films dealing with transvestite and transexual themes. (just like VICTIM paved the way for gay rights then ...?). Acclaimed British actress Anne Heywood stars as Roy, a young English man who works at a real estate agency and lives with his widowed father (Harry Andrews). Roy's existance is a fight against loneliness as he is obsessed by a secret desire that no one understands. After a violent clash with his father, Roy takes a room in a seedy hotel and slowly adopts his new identity as a woman. Psychologically and physically he becomes a female named Wendy Ross, and in turn falls in love with a man. Directed by theatre director John Dexter, I WANT WHAT I WANT offers a hard-hitting portrait of accepting one's own identity and finding happiness.

Well, yes, Roy/Wendy then moves to a house run by Jill Bennett (no less) where she is accepted as female, Wendy has a lovely room in typical 1970s style where she is happy sewing and running up outfits, very flouncy dresses with lots of ruffles, and she wears lots of make-up too, trowelling on that blue eyeshadow .... in fact she looks too feminine. Luckily he/she does not have to work, as her mother left her some money. The girl next door is none other than Sheila Reid (now Madge in popular tv series BENIDORM), and Miss Bennett is nicely tart as usual. Michael Coles is the other man living there as he and Wendy become aware of their feelings - which leads to that confrontation resulting in him beating her up and she reaches for a sliver of broken glass ... all ends happily though as Roy is now completely Wendy, happily gazing at her new passport for "Miss Wendy Ross". Paul Rogers is good too as the understanding doctor she visits. Harry Andrews more or less phones in his standard bully performance as the father, 'The Major', who catches Roy in full drag. 

Heywood (now in her 80s and retired in California) is indeed mesmerising, but the problem with a woman playing a man playing a woman is that Roy looks like a pretty rather effiminate male, who finds it fairly easy to dress like a woman and wear high heels, whereas if a real man was playing Roy it would make it harder for him to look and pass as female ? Roy does not even have to shave much, if at all ... Its certainly a fascinating film to see at this remove, and maybe should not have been overlooked at the time. Heywood should certainly have been considered for major awards. The film avoids sensationalism, showing from a legal standpoint, "Wendy" does not exist, so finding work would be difficult as she cannot provide identity papers. Without a strong central performance it would not work at all, but Heywood is never less than compelling.

PS: Also today I opened the new BFI programme for April, to see praise for Anne Heywood in a 1962 thriller they are reviving: THE VERY EDGE, with Richard Todd and Jeremy Brett: "What is remarkable and unexpected about the film, however, is Anne Heywood's transition from a 'Stepford Wife' to a woman who is determined, literally, to stand on her own two feet..  Sounds promising ...

No such praise for GIRL STROKE BOY, a cringe-making so-called comedy, from 1971. The only thing in its favour it that is has a last leading role for the marvellous Joan Greenwood, whom we like a lot here. This was produced by Ned Sherrin who was one of the best and better known gay producers on British television, and this was one of his cinema efforts, from a play called "Girlfriend". 
We focus on a dotty older couple, Lettice and George, who live in the country as their son Clive Francis is paying them a visit with his West Indian girlfriend Jo. Clive has never seemed interested in girls before so they are naturally delighted, as we watch them get ready - cue lots of funny business for Joan and that great actor/farceur Michael Hodern as George. His reactions including stunned incredulity are a joy to see, and Joan of course is in her element, with that voice and vocal inflections of hers. Add in the young Patricia Routledge (later Hycinth Bouquet) and more laughs are guaranteed.

The young couple look suitably hippieish, but Jo - played by Straker (later Peter Straker) - is so obviously male that one wonders what planet the others are on.  Since they - and we  - never discover if it's a boy or a girl that their son has brought home, they don't know if he is gay or straight. Its all terribly dated now of course, but thats the charm here. Its a demented comedy of gender confusion and was one of the first British films to portray a gay relationship and is an almost forgotten minor gem from the dark ages of British cinema. At least it tried to push boundaries unlike charmless dated unfunny piffle like PRUDENCE AND THE PILL!

Next: finally on dvd, our 1962 favourite: THE CHAPMAN REPORT, plus reports on ONLY GOD FORGIVES, DJANGO UNCHAINED, THE GREAT BEAUTY, THE LONG GOODBYE and GRAVITY on Blu-ray, and more impersonations with BEHIND THE CANDELABRA and BURTON AND TAYLOR, another Ruth Roman double-bill and more delicious Trash classics.

1940s British favourites

One more look at British movies - those 1940s classics I have discovered (being a child of the '50s) and cherished over the years ... BLACK NARCISSUS may even overtake BLOW-UP as my favourite film of all time, and I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING is one I have to see regularly too (just to spend time with Wendy Hiller, Pamela Brown, Roger Livesey, Nancy Price), and one can look at Lean's GREAT EXPECTATIONS any time and still be amazed by that amazing black and white photography ....and I simply love THIS HAPPY BREED, and the amazing sets for Michael Powell's A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH and THE RED SHOES. Lean's 1948 THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS has been a recent discovery too, a stunning melodrama the equal of BRIEF ENCOUNTER. More on these at labels below ...

Wendy Hiller and that great Scottish castle interior

That British '40s certainly belonged to Powell & Pressburger, David Lean, Carol Reed - and also those Ealing films like SARABAND FOR DEAD LOVERS, WHISKEY GALORE, KIND HEARTS & CORONETS, IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY, as well as those early '40s war efforts like 2,000 WOMEN and of course IN WHICH WE SERVE. BLITHE SPIRIT is still magical too, and of course the Gainsboroughs and those Anna Neagle films - even now one gets a delirious thrill from super tosh like MADONNA OF THE SEVEN MOONS or CARAVAN - the heyday of Stewart Granger and James Mason, as well as Ann Todd, Celia Johnson, Flora Robson and that enchanting young Joan Greenwood, among others.  All nicely complementing the American noirs and musicals of the period and all those vehicles for Davis, Crawford, Stanwyck, Hepburn - with or without Tracy. 

Bickering relations in THIS HAPPY BREED

James Mason - ODD MAN OUT

That marvellous beach (Barra in Scotland) in WHISKEY GALORE

 Soon: More People We Like: Peter Finch, Alan Bates, David Warner, Flora Robson.

Rainy day flicks

Its been raining here all week, after a warm March, its now a very wet and windy April - ideal weather for afternoons watching favourite old movies .... and quite a good bunch are on this week, ones I can settle down in front of any time, (despite having the dvds!)

I regard Fritz Lang’s MOONFLEET [and Richard Thorpe’s QUENTIN DURWARD [reviewed at Kay Kendall label] as the high points of mid-50s MGM costume dramas. MOONFLEET in '55 is a marvellous re-telling of the childrens’ classic suitably changed for the cinema with great Scope compositions. Lang shot it in California but it just looks perfectly right. Stewart Granger is another dashing hero, Jon Whiteley is the little boy in search of his inheritance [he co-starred with Dirk Bogarde in THE SPANISH GARDENER (Bogarde label) the next year], George Sanders is the perfect scoundrel and Joan Greenwood only has two (but very memorable) scenes as the mocking villainess. It captures the 18th century saga of smuggling and country churchyards just right . It’s a treat I can watch anytime…. I like the book too but Lang's version is a suitably changed for the cinema version.

THE VIKINGS is a movie kids enjoyed hugely back then in 1958, and we still do now 50 years later. Its just a perfectly made period romp by Richard Fleischer, photographed by Jack Cardiff in Norway, great supporting cast, score by Nascimbene and narrated by Orson Welles. Douglas and Curtis are the warring half-brothers and Janet Leigh the Welsh princess they fight over. Janet is at her loveliest here – I have always liked the scene when Tony rips her bodice so she can row the boat as they escape, Eileen Way is great as Kitala the witch who saves Curtis from those crabs! Borgnine chews the scenery as Ragnar while Frank Thring essays another study in villainy as Ayella with the wolf pit. It all certainly brings the dark ages to life! - great castle seige too. and that final fight between Kirk and Tony as the waves crash against the rocks below -  and it remains a television staple. James Donald, Maxine Audley and Alexander Knox are all sterling support. Its always a laugh now when Kirk manhandles Janet's maid who is "silly moo" Dandy Nichols!

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK - another television staple but this is a better than average telemovie, with a sterling cast playing out the Dumas warhorse, as directed by Mike Newell in 1977 and lensed by the great Freddie Young in those real French locations. It is the oft-told tale of Louis XIV of France and his attempts to keep his identical twin brother Philippe imprisoned away from sight and knowledge of the public, and Philippe's rescue by the aging Musketeers, led by D'Artagnan (Louis Jourdan, a dab hand at this kind of thing). Richard Chamberlain is both the man in the mask and Louis XIV. A glowering Patrick McGoohan is our prime villain Fouquet and Jenny Agutter is lovely as usual. For me the movie is made by Ralph Richardson in his element as Colbert, also with Ian Holm, and the marvellous Vivien Merchant as Maria Theresa - who soon spots the duplicate King but realises she is better off with him than the real king who ignores her, also Brenda Bruce as Anne of Austria. Great derring-do then played out by a splendid cast.

Other perfect rainy afternoon movies would be sitting back again with ALL ABOUT EVE or A LETTER TO 3 WIVES or Wyler's THE HEIRESS, or indeed THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT or some '50s epics like LAND OF THE PHAROAHS or THE PRODIGAL, Sophia's BOY ON A DOLPHIN or LEGEND OF THE LOST, Janet Leigh's musical MY SISTER EILEEN with Bob Fosse, Joan Crawford's JOHNNY GUITAR or of course Kay Kendall in Cukor's LES GIRLS or Minnelli's THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE, which I am seeing again on the big screen at the London British Film Institute's National Film Theatre in a few weeks with my IMDB pal Timshelboy, so more on that then ...

Saturday is rainy too, and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE is scheduled, but much as I like hanging out with Pola, Loco and Schatze, I think I will go with another Negulesco I have written about quite a bit here: WOMAN'S WORLD, that great 1954 Fox charmer with Clifton Webb leading that cast ... and fighting off the attentions of go-getting Arlene Dahl! - poured into that slinky green number with the little fur-trimmed bolero she very knowingly removes ...