tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post7334105253117066549..comments2024-03-28T18:32:38.243-04:00Comments on Poseidon's Underworld: The "Midnight" HowlerPoseidon3http://www.blogger.com/profile/10465785002285422594noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-34894543450826737712012-08-27T22:31:17.346-04:002012-08-27T22:31:17.346-04:00This movie is a real favorite of mine. I've se...This movie is a real favorite of mine. I've seen it more times than i can name, yet ( no disrespect to those who love it, seriously)I seem to find something new to laugh at every time I revisit it. Everything is so false and stagey in that Ross Hunter way and Rex Harrison always looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. For all the laughs I get at the terrible fashions and over-familiar dialog, I have to say that no one does a breakdown better than Day. She's Oscar-worthy in that elevator scene. Loved reading about all the other cast members though, and i especially enjoy your common sense observations (those DANGER signs, her not needing to pick up the phone - really...what important call would she be missing if she left it off the hook?). <br />As always a fu, fun read...I've been away too long!Ken Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940648971296673233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-92100590521620982582012-08-22T10:43:22.997-04:002012-08-22T10:43:22.997-04:00Thanks, dcolp, that regional accent/manner may hel...Thanks, dcolp, that regional accent/manner may help explain why I feel added affection or association with Day beyond the fact that her early years were spent nearby. Sadly for me, too many of my own mother's inflections bring back memories of Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest! LOLOL Seriously!Poseidon3https://www.blogger.com/profile/10465785002285422594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-29902754423048148662012-08-21T20:45:05.113-04:002012-08-21T20:45:05.113-04:00Your "Dynasty" idea for Doris is very in...Your "Dynasty" idea for Doris is very interesting. I can see that. I know for years there were comments in the papers or magazines that Doris was going to do this or that TV movie or whatever, but nothing ever happened, as we know.<br /><br />I am from Dayton, although I have not lived there for years. I do get back there occasionally. My mother's voice did not sound like Doris', but her accent and the cadence of her speech and inflections were very similar. My mother was born in Columbus and her family moved to Dayton when she was nine, so of course she and Doris grew up in the same region as far as accents. In "Please Don't Eat the Daisies," when Doris says, "That salesman unnerved me" regarding that bowl with the apple in it, I always can hear my mother saying that. It is something about how she says it as well as how she pronounces "unnerved." Now and then in her other movies I have experienced that also.Colonel Potterbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01851402097041924668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-25248170078478480562012-08-20T08:22:30.383-04:002012-08-20T08:22:30.383-04:00Dcolp, thanks so much for your insightful comments...Dcolp, thanks so much for your insightful comments and information. I would indeed have loved to have seen Doris in a plush '60s soaper on the big screen. Along those lines, When Doris showed up at the Globes to receive her honorary award and said she was ready to come back, I was really hoping that somehow she would be cast on Dynasty as Krystle's supposedly deceased (but we were never given details) mother Iris. I could almost believe that sunshiny Doris had raised the sensitive and altruistic Krystle and it would have been neat to see her glammed up and going head to head with Alexis and others (though at that point, one really couldn't have trusted the writers to handle her - or much of anything - very well.) <br /><br />I feel a special kinship for Doris because she was born and raised just 2 miles from where I live (and Vera-Ellen only blocks from me!) But even so, she's just one of those unique stars who brought so much joy and brightness to things and, even though her life wasn't always easy, tended to avoid scandal and squalor.Poseidon3https://www.blogger.com/profile/10465785002285422594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-49564159286758866952012-08-18T14:41:38.358-04:002012-08-18T14:41:38.358-04:00Thank you for this excellent post about "Midn...Thank you for this excellent post about "Midnight Lace." Near the beginning when you made a "virgin" crack, I thought, "Uh, Oh. Here we go again." But as I read on I learned that you are a major Doris fan and that the comment was obviously lighthearted. I recall in Doris' autobiography her listing all the husbands and children she had in her various movies, and yet the virgin tag persists. I suppose it is because her biggest hits played on that. Actually, it was mainly "That Touch of Mink." In "Pillow Talk" it was more about her not being interested in men who just wanted that one thing! As a friend of mine put it, "She certainly wasn't hesitant about going to Connecticut with him."<br /><br />But I digress. As far as "Midnight Lace," it is somewhat entertaining. The problem I always had with it was that Doris' character started out in extreme distress from the very first scene. There seemed to be nowhere to build from there. It seems to me that it would have been more effective if at first she was just a bit spooked or even perplexed or annoyed, and then when it did not stop she would begin unraveling. Then I realized that by making her seem so high strung from the beginning that it was easier to make the case that she was someone who had some mental problems. I do not recall if they ever touched upon her telling tales when she was younger, as in the play. But I do not think they did.<br /><br />It certainly has a gorgeous look, and must have been great to see on a huge screen in a movie palace of the day. I think this was about the only time in Doris' career (or maybe in her life) where her hair was done in a flip. It was very flattering, and the costumes were beautiful. A previous posted mentioned the fur muff. Doris has said that when she looks back she cannot believe how she wore fur all those years ago.<br /><br />Doris also remarked about how her dramatic films that were done with her husband producing had her playing a woman who is threatened by her husband, and how that was kind of odd. What I wish they had made instead of this movie is a lush Ross Hunter romance/soap opera with Doris in the lead. That would have been interesting, as she never did a love story of that type. She did lots of comic love stories, of course, but nothing serious. You could say that "Young at Heart" had a serious aspect to the love story, and it did. And there was "Love Me or Leave Me," which could fall into the serious love story category. But I am talking about a real old-fashioned "women's picture."<br /><br />Here is a link to a photo I came across just the other day. It is Doris and Tony Curtis on the set of this movie. I wonder if there were ever discussions of a movie starring the two of them. http://heckyeahdorisday.tumblr.com/post/29514267475/doris-and-tony-curtis-on-the-set-of-midnight<br /><br />As always, you do a great job with this blog. I always look forward to your new posts.Colonel Potterbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01851402097041924668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-2203713874076313812012-08-18T14:36:35.600-04:002012-08-18T14:36:35.600-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.Colonel Potterbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01851402097041924668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-47205543586369676722012-08-15T09:03:36.192-04:002012-08-15T09:03:36.192-04:00Doris, what's this with the fur muff? We thou...Doris, what's this with the fur muff? We thought you were an animal rights activist!Labuanbajohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02868669229565228124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-55961419079517833522012-08-14T10:12:12.945-04:002012-08-14T10:12:12.945-04:00Yes, Michael! I think that's why Doris has so...Yes, Michael! I think that's why Doris has some of those hats on... to help disguise the stand-in. Oh, and Joel, YES Myrna's one hat is just dreadful. Otherwise, she looks chic, but my God that awful upturned thing on her head is just hideous. IIFC, she'd just come from the hair salon, too!! Why go have your hair set and then plant a fugly hat right on top of it??Poseidon3https://www.blogger.com/profile/10465785002285422594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-24054788149789003592012-08-14T10:03:49.331-04:002012-08-14T10:03:49.331-04:00Loved Midnight Lace, great reading about it again....Loved Midnight Lace, great reading about it again. Whats hilarious for me is that it is set in London - but obviously filmed on the Universal backlot, with some establishing shots in London and the scene with the London bus... hilariously done. Its almost as good as Portrait in Black ! Michael O'Sullivanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17820802843771524920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-50529842653353489982012-08-14T08:52:43.940-04:002012-08-14T08:52:43.940-04:00Hey there, y'all. Thanks for your remarks. I...Hey there, y'all. Thanks for your remarks. I'm glad to see some Doris and some Midnight Lace love.<br /><br />When it comes to her "retirement," I feel like a lot of factors are involved. You have a HUGE box office star who was forced into some substandard movies followed by a TV-series that went through several permutations to where it was probably a case of fatigue combined with oversaturation. A break was definitely deserved and perhaps the producers were fine with that, too, as tastes were changing so much. Then, when they turned around and realized that a) the world still could use some Doris Day in it and b) that she had plenty left to give, SHE had gotten used to a comfortable, pleasant life outside the circus of Hollywood filmmaking. This, paired with her commitment to animals, led her to turn down offers. I still recall that time she accepted a Golden Globe (looking great by the way) and said that she felt ready to come back, but either no good offers came her way or else she must not have liked the material offered her. I mean, Claudette Colbert, Loretta Young and Maureen O'Hara were all coming back for one last hurrah, but we couldn't get Doris out of Carmel for almost anything! I respect her choices, but wish she'd have done one or two more things because of what she'd have brought to them.Poseidon3https://www.blogger.com/profile/10465785002285422594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-12316281294187066612012-08-14T08:31:39.294-04:002012-08-14T08:31:39.294-04:00Love the post - always interesting insight and det...Love the post - always interesting insight and details. Have to admit, though, I am going hone in on one of your incidental mentions. I LOVE LACE, the schlocky mim-series from the 80's. My absoute favorite and I bought it on dvd! "Which one of you bitches is my mother?" has to be among the all-time classic lines!Scooterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09874254346853382934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-10877296948314798612012-08-13T20:38:36.111-04:002012-08-13T20:38:36.111-04:00Marvelous as always! I love, love, love Midnight L...Marvelous as always! I love, love, love Midnight Lace for all its wretched excess and Doris suffering in all her vaseline lensed glory! Myrna is also wonderfully chic here except in that one unfortunate scene where she appears to be wearing a flower basket turned upside down on her head. <br />John Gavin never disappoints, always stunningly handsome and woodenly awful. <br />The one puzzler of the film is that with that cast and director coming from Universal, a studio that is very good about getting their catalogue out to the public, why this has never been released on DVD. I have an old tape from American Movie Classics, back when they were a real movie station not the mess they are today, that I fear is starting to wear so hopefully it will become available at least as an on demand title at some point.<br />I don't buy that they stopped calling line from Miss Day, Albert Brooks approached her for Mother before casting Debbie Reynolds for one thing. But if that's the line she wants to go with that's her privilege. I think she was wise to leave everyone wanting more.joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-39865276674506558472012-08-13T17:46:59.880-04:002012-08-13T17:46:59.880-04:00ha#
Hermione Baddeley
she with a face like uncooke...ha#<br />Hermione Baddeley<br />she with a face like uncooked pastry!<br />John Going Gentlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14958171262765033946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4006108502645191096.post-72061421455161807692012-08-13T16:32:33.599-04:002012-08-13T16:32:33.599-04:00What a great post! I'm a big Doris Day fan -...What a great post! I'm a big Doris Day fan - Regarding her "premature retirement from acting in 1973", I heard a fairly recent interview with her and she told the interviewer that she never retired, that "they just quit calling". <br /><br />Also, I had never heard the tale of Irene. Love your site!Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12994860402022617403noreply@blogger.com