There's Just One Hitch...

Had I been born in 1980, when Alfred Hitchcock passed away, instead of 1967, I’d swear I was a reincarnation of the man. (Not looks-wise, mind you!) As it stands, perhaps he did in some way enter my body shortly after his death because it was in 1983 that I discovered his movies for the first time and I immediately felt the need to see all of them that I could.

In 1983, a few of his films (including Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Rear Window) were re-released following a long period in which they had been tied up in legalities. A pay cable channel was advertising this fact and some of the imagery caught my eye, so I tuned in and was hooked from then on.

What got my attention in this batch of movies – the clean colors, the wondrous music, the suspenseful stories, the cool blonde leading ladies – led me to seek out his earlier work. Each time I saw another one, I enjoyed it (with a couple of exceptions along the way.)

As I began to investigate the man’s work and the man himself, I soon discovered that we had many similar fetishes, phobias and fascinations. For example, he had a fear of authority figures stemming from a childhood incident in which his father had him placed in a jail cell briefly to prove a point. I am also wary of the police and other uniformed officials. He also loved women who present an icy, secure, confident front, but who may have simmering passions under that surface. Likewise, he seemed to enjoy gussying his leading ladies up only to systematically tear them down. (This ties into my disaster movie fixation, which often features glamorous people and settings being put through a battery of elements. In fact, Hitch occasionally included disaster-style sequences such as in Foreign Correspondent, in which a planeload of people crashes into the water.)

My favorite Hitchcock movie is Vertigo, which was also his most personal film. Everything about it from the obsessive nature of James Stewart to the gauzy beauty of Kim Novak to the swirling music to the unforgettable Edith Head clothing captivates me thoroughly. It’s definitely a film that provokes either praise or derision depending on one’s outlook. However, there are so many other gems including Psycho, The Birds, Notorious, The Man Who Knew Too Much (I’m one of those who prefers his remake), Strangers on a Train and, of course, his Oscar-winning Best Picture Rebecca.

Even in those of his films that aren’t complete successes, I usually find something I love – a set piece, a performer, a stylistic choice, the music. Torn Curtain may not be a terrific movie, but it has hunky Paul Newman in his prime and in gorgeous color. Likewise, Marnie features a young Sean Connery and the elegant Tippi Hedren along with the wondrously cranky work of Louise Latham. I Confess features stunning black and white photography. To Catch a Thief features one of my all time favorite dresses, a blue chiffon Grecian number that stands out vividly against Grace Kelly’s tan. There is only one Alfred Hitchcock sound film that I have not seen. I just cannot seem to get through it or to even make myself do so and that is Jamaica Inn. I adore Maureen O’Hara and have enjoyed Charles Laughton in things, but this one eludes me. Maybe someday…

Where'd He Get That Name?!

So, dear reader, if you've been perusing this blog since the beginning, you know that I started off those early posts in a sort of auto-biographical manner, relaying some of my earliest movie memories in order of their occurrence. Today I will reflect a little bit on the movie that had the GREATEST overall impact on me as a child and which gave me my online moniker and, thus, the name of this site.

Having seen The Towering Inferno in the theater, I was zooming back and forth on my backyard aluminum whirley-gig (I have no idea what it's called - a rowing and spinning device from the 70s which has probably since been deemed unsafe!), talking about the movie with a slightly older neighbor kid named Eddie. He brought up The Poseidon Adventure and described it's plot line to me. I remember him telling me about the upside down toilets, for one thing, and how funny it was when Robin Shelby went to the men's room and saw them there. I couldn't believe that such a film existed and, of course, at that time, I had no access to it.

Cut to a year or so later when our house was robbed on Christmas Eve. The burglars took our color TV set, but left an old (and very heavy) black and white set in my bedroom. Until we could replace the color set, my mom would lie on my twin bed at night to watch TV and I would crouch on the floor in front of her if something was on that I liked. One night, they broadcast The Poseidon Adventure and we tuned in. It would be a life-changing occurrence. (And just as information, the airing of this film on TV was a ratings triumph. This was long before home video was widespread. Practically everyone was watching!)

I guess I was a pretty sensitive child and, to that point, I don't think I had ever quite grasped the concept that sometimes the good guys don't win. To make it brief, my illusions were shattered. It was inconceivable to my 8 year-old mind that innocent vacationers on a boat could be celebrating New Years Eve one minute and, after having been capsized, dead the next or that people valiantly fighting to survive could work for the safety of others and then not make it out themselves. It was a realization that overwhelmed me.

I had a memory of my mother saying to one of her friends once that she "couldn't stand to see a grown man cry." It stuck with me and on the night of the Poseidon viewing, when the most stunning and sad point for me arrived, I wanted to cry desperately, but didn't, even though I wasn't a "grown man." I held it in. Stifled it. For many years afterward, whenever I would catch the film on TV (and, trust me, I sought it out, stayed up late, GOT up late if it was on overnight...) I would be wrecked emotionally by the end.

Thankfully, I've since worked through that aspect of the film and now enjoy it in a whole new way, though if it catches me in a certain frame of mind, I sometimes still get choked up when Miss Shelley Winters takes her big dive. In fact, I have become so comfortable in my attitude towards the film that I can simultaneously laugh at it, be moved by it and become excited by it all at once and even attended a recent stage musical parody of it during which I was one of the people laughing the hardest. (I was concerned about a show that mocked a film that has always been a favorite of mine.) I had also been skittish about the two recent remakes, wondering if they would somehow soil the memory of the original. I needn't have worried. Both productions were so pedestrian and utterly forgettable that in time people are unlikely to recall that they were even made.


In later posts, I will mention some of the aspects of The Poseidon Adventure that have enthralled me, amused me and inspired me. I would single myself out as a complete nut (before you get the chance to!), but I'm aware, as a matter of fact, that there's an entire cult culture built around this film with people dressing up, making dolls of the cast, redesigning rooms of their house in an upside down fashion, holding parties, making video tributes that star themselves and their friends and on and on. There's a fan club that holds an annual screening aboard the Queen Mary to which surviving cast members are invited and occasionally attend. 

Clearly, Irwin Allen and Ronald Neame fashioned something that made a tremendous impact on its viewing audience and that's something that only one in a hundred films can engender.

I have never been on a cruise, though I want to go sometime. I always feel like I'd come away disappointed if the ship stayed right side up the entire time. Maybe the promise of endless food and frolicsome on board activities, along with interesting shore leaves, would make up for it.

I watch the movie every New Years Day and try not to see it in between if I can help it so that it retains some small level of freshness for me. I picked the Internet handle of Poseidon3 many years ago when I was writing User Reviews on imdb.com and wanted to bring attention to the movie (at a time when interest in it and other disaster flicks had been flagging somewhat.) It just stuck thereafter on other sites, including this one.

Kneel Before O'Neil

Some actors do a lifetime of work on the stage or screen and yet are solely remembered for one thing. While today's star may not fit that description entirely, it is probable that most people who know of her at all only know of her because of the role she played in one of the most successful films of all time.

A Student of The Yale School of Drama, Barbara O'Neil joined University Players and rubbed elbows with fellow students (and future stars) Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and Margaret Sullavan, among others. It was here that she met her husband (for a short while) Joshua Logan, who was a noted director, eventually enjoying much success on Broadway.

Fans of the old Barbara Stanwyck weepie Stella Dallas will recall O'Neil as the kindly stepmother of Stanwyck's daughter Anne Shirley (you know, the girl who marries a nice young boy as her real mother stands watching from the outside?) This first foray into films (in 1937) was representative of the types of roles Ms. O'Neil would portray most frequently. She was often either the other woman (nice or mean, depending on what was called for) or some sort of motherly figure.




Just two years later, O'Neil would enact the role of Ellen Robillard O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, a film of such magnitude that, even now, 70 years later, it captivates droves of viewers and stands as one of Hollywood's all time classics. Here, she portrayed the soft-spoken, quietly powerful and much-beloved mother of Scarlett O'Hara. Though the role in the film is rather slender, the character in the source novel is a major fixture, her persona looming large throughout, and O'Neil perfectly fit the character (as practically every actor in GWTW did thanks to the exacting obsessiveness of producer David O' Selznick.) One bit of surprising trivia: She was, in real life, only three years older than Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett. Unlike many other instances of this sort of thing, on this occasion, it works perfectly. O'Neil's work here is interesting because it's very understated, something that would contrast dramatically with her other most notable career role.


A year after GWTW, O'Neil took on the role of The Duchesse de Praslin in All This, and Heaven Too, a romantic drama that starred Bette Davis and Charles Boyer. Here, she was the vividly neurotic and endlessly trouble-causing wife of Boyer who frets and lashes out constantly at both him and the (for once) demure Davis. Once seen, she cannot be forgotten as she flails about in a variety of ornate period ensembles, sporting anachronistic false eyelashes that seem to project 3-D-style from the screen. For her efforts, she received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Though there is precious little in her fire-breathing performance that is realistic or (much less) subtle, she is thoroughly captivating and the film can't help but suffer a bit when she makes her exit.

Despite this accomplishment and the forward momentum that these two films should have offered, Barbara O'Neil made sporadic film appearances after this (including Otto Preminger's Whirlpool and Angel Face - and not everyone could work with him twice!), concentrating more on Broadway where she performed in no less than seven plays from 1942 on. She also made a few 1950s TV appearances, usually on anthology shows which were very popular at the time.

Some might be surprised to know that she lived until 1980, but she was only 70, having portrayed Mrs. O'Hara when in her late 20s. Though the occasional bit of acting may show up in which she doesn't make a massive impression, there's no denying the versatility she brought to the roles she did when looked at as a collection, even when they were pigeonholed within a certain range by the scripts and casting directors.

Table of the Round Knight

Those younger viewers amongst us who only know Miss Shirley Knight for her bubbly supporting work in films of varying quality (such as As Good as it Gets, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Grandma's Boy and Paul Blart: Mall Cop) may find it surprising that she was once a) a lovely and trim ingenue, b) the co-star of many notable leading men and c) an actress who fearlessly took on roles that pushed the envelope of the standards of the time.

I first came upon Miss Knight in a 1974 quasi-disaster film called Juggernaut. It's really more of a suspense film concerning bombs placed on a dreary cruise liner and her role is negligible. Later, I found her in Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, the utterly ridiculous and tacky 1979 sequel to the original film. Somehow, against all odds, she retains a quiet dignity throughout, perhaps because she is surrounded by a gallery of highly annoying personalities. The recently released DVD sadly neglects to restore several of her scenes which were seen in the expanded TV version, so her role remains rather slight (she might be grateful for this as it is hardly a prestigious addition to her resume!)

She plays the serene, supportive wife of blind novelist Jack Warden and she has several howlingly entertaining moments along the way. Her entrance in the film is classic. A band of survivors is frantically trying to clear a blocked passageway when she reaches, seemingly out of nowhere, to touch one on the shoulder as one might approach a stranger to ask in which direction a certain street lies! Later, she suffers a dislocated shoulder and stretches her acting muscles, allowing her simultaneously stiff and limp appendage to hover to the side like a broken wing. Though no one escaped this film entirely free of career stain, she is far from the most embarrassing member of the cast and comes off as rather elegant, believe it or not.

We know her now as that alternately bubbly or dour, overweight character actress who seems to get nominated for an Emmy or a Golden Globe every time she appears on TV and, had she been given another decent scene or two, she might have copped a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for As Good as it Gets. (Incidentally, she won that role after Betty White turned it down due to implied cruelty towards the scene-stealing little fur ball who finds itself in Jack Nicholson's care.) Shirl deserves credit anyway for convincing audiences that she could possibly have given birth to someone like Helen Hunt!

However, Shirley already had two Oscar noms under her belt for supporting work she did in her early films The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Sweet Bird of Youth (opposite the delectable Paul Newman.) Oddly, she wasn't nominated again once she segued into leading roles, even though she took on some meaty ones and handled them deftly. She appeared, to non-flashy but solid effect, in the female ensemble of The Group, the racially charged Dutchman, the 60s classic Petulia and The Rain People, a film before its time in which she has several luminous moments. She also played Brooke Shields' hippie-ish mother in Endless Love. A Broadway veteran, she can also count The Tony Award as one of her many accolades.

It's telling of my almost complete lack of taste that one of my favorite appearances of hers is in the tawdry, campy mess Color of Night. She has a cameo (two small bits, actually) as Edith Niedelmeyer, the agitated and neurotic wife of a suspicious doctor. Her scene with Bruce Willis in which she wallows all over her living room, reacting to a threat that is never present, should be run on a continuous loop in the Camp Hall of Fame! It's astonishing!

There was no room in Wolfgang Peterson's "who cares" 2006 Poseidon remake for any female larger than a size 2 or perhaps Miss Knight could have played a contemporary version of Belle Rosen, adding a dollop of heart to a film which basically had none. As it is, it's nice to see her continually getting work, though a touch more discretion in projects wouldn't be unappreciated. If that were the case, however, I wouldn't have Edith Niedelmeyer to worship unendingly!

Lex is More

The local UHF channel frequently played old Tarzan movies on the weekend, usually starring Johnny Weismuller. One day I happened upon one of the old flicks and the vine-swinger was suddenly different. He was a little younger and tan and BLONDE! Though most purists prefer Johnny, I can't say I minded the switch because, to me, Lex Barker was as close to physical perfection as my poor little 8 year-old mind knew. I still think the man was gorgeous.

Hailing from a rather well-to-do family, Lex had to practically say goodbye forever to all of them when he chose to pursue acting as a career over a more prestigious occupation because they heartily disapproved. He worked in a steel mill and served (with success) in the army until he could make his acting dream a reality. He toiled away in smallish roles before landing in the loincloth for a series of jungle epics. He was also married during this time to Miss Lana Turner, who knew a hot man when she saw one, even if he was trouble. (Turner's daughter accidentally killed one of mom's lovers during a heated incident and Lex, himself, was accused by the same daughter of sexual abuse, though these allegations came to light long after his death.) In one of those almost incestuous quadrangles that can only happen in Hollywood, Lex was married to Arlene Dahl at the same time Lana was carrying on a torrid romance with Fernando Lamas. Lex divorced Arlene and married Lana and before long Arlene married Fernando! (This resulted in Lorenzo Lamas, which is a good or bad thing depending on one's point of view.)

Anyway, Lex possessed stunning features and a beautiful physique, but was unable to get past any of that and be taken seriously as an actor. In time, he migrated to Germany and appeared in many, many films there, becoming one of that country's favorite stars! He made quite a few westerns based on the books of Karl May including the campy, but very beautiful and highly entertaining The Treasure of Silver Lake. A lavishly illustrated biography of him and his career is a big seller in Germany, but hasn't been translated into English for the rest of us to enjoy.

Never one to stay unmarried for long, he was on his way to meet the woman who was to be wife number six when he was stricken with a heart attack at the reasonably young age of 54. It's hard to know exactly what went on with this man in his private life, but it's equally hard to ignore the visual benefits he brought to many films (and, later, acting prowess.) A series of comic books based on his tenure as Tarzan feature covers that are alternately amusing, beautiful, revealing and downright corny (sometimes he'd be forced to pose with a chimp and/or a banana and have animals superimposed behind him.)

You Can Keep Your SUVs. I Want My Van!

There was a time when a reasonably little-known 1960 film called Tall Story used to play frequently on the classic movie cable channels. It starred Anthony Perkins and Jane Fonda and, though I have nothing against them, I never felt the need to tune in. It was about a college basketball star and that is not really my milieu. Had I known then that the film featured a young man named Van Williams as "Young Man in a Shower," I'd have watched it every time it was on! Missed work, abandoned friends, quit shaving... the works! I have yet to see this film in which he's discovered in the buff by Jane as she is skulking about in the boy's locker room with Tony Perkins.

Van was a finely mannered, but inherently masculine, young actor who is best known today for his one season role on TV as The Green Hornet. Previous to that, he'd appeared as private investigator Ken Williams on several Warner Brothers TV series (primarily Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside 6.) He also appeared in the all-star film The Caretakers, which dealt with then-revolutionary group therapy at a mental hospital.

No project he worked on (and he was pretty busy throughout the 60s and early 70s) ever truly demonstrated him to his best ability. True, he was no Laurence Olivier, but he was amiable, accessible and extraordinarily hunky! He eventually left the business in order to pursue a career in the business world as well as local law enforcement.




As the photos sprinkled throughout here demonstrate, he was a man who really looked sharp in a suit and who looked equally delectable out of one. His eyes were a striking blue and his sturdy chin finished off one very handsome face. His chest was a work of art. He never went shirtless on The Green Hornet except for one time when he was injured and showed a bit of shoulder not covered by the bandages. However, in certain scenes of his detective shows, he would occasionally sport a pair of teeny and snug shorts. He also played one yummy dad on a short-lived Saturday morning kids show called Westwind where he rarely bothered to button up his shirts.

Another selling point to this beautiful man was his generosity in making sure that his Green Hornet co-star - a little someone named Bruce Lee (!) - was given the showcasing he deserved at a time when the TV landscape was virtually devoid of Asian actors, especially regulars on a weekly show. Mr. Williams is, as of this writing, the last remaining actor from that series who is still alive. He makes occasional appearances at fan/autograph conventions.

Now Arriving at Gate 7: Airport

Arthur Hailey wrote the sprawling and detailed best-selling novel Airport in 1968 and the film version, released in 1970, became a runaway hit. It cost $10 million to make and earned $100 million at the box office!

I came to this one backwards, having been only 3 when it was in theaters. My ex-stepmother counted this as her favorite movie and got me interested in checking in out. Seeing as it features virtually all of my cinematic obsessions (those being all star casts, disaster, glamour, bitchy repartee among others), I was instantly hooked myself.

Several plot points begin separately. A desperate man considers killing himself and others aboard a plane in order to collect the insurance money. An elderly stowaway is caught and reprimanded. A stewardess has to break it to her married lover that she is pregnant. The airport manager is under immense pressure over a troublesome runway as his harpy of a wife is close to leaving him. Finally, the area is hit with a powerful snowstorm that has helped block a key landing strip. All of these story threads converge at once into a suspenseful and entertaining climax.

The poster for Airport features boxes of all the main stars and set a trend that other films would copy, though later movies tended to align them at the bottom rather than surround the entire sign. Alfred Newman, an amazing and prolific film composer whose sons David and Thomas have followed the same career path, created the dazzling score just before dying. Edith Head whipped up the clean and chic costumes including the smart airline uniforms. She would later be asked to create actual stewardess uniforms for a major airline following this.

Though Burt Lancaster held contempt for the film and his role in it, he does a fine job as does Dean Martin, a casting surprise in his role as a pilot (since Dino was known for having a drink in his hand on most occasions, even if it was later revealed to be apple juice more often than not!) However, in my world, the film belongs to the ladies.

Notably tragic Jean Seberg (who disliked her costume and wig, though I live for them) is terrific as a savvy airline exec who attempts to one up the stowaway, but can never quite win. Jacqueline Bisset plays the chief stewardess and looks incredible. Her blue eyes jump off the screen. She has a delicious smackdown with the stowaway herself that is one of the highlights of the film (and of my life!) And who is playing this crafty little stowaway? Why Helen Hayes, of course, who took home an Oscar for her trouble! Ms. Hayes is shameless in her meticulously developed, scene-stealing performance in which every cell of her body is geared towards making sure every facet of her impish character comes across. It's an underrated piece of acting in that her detractors never seem to get just how marvelously she handles every nuance and bit of dialogue.

Also providing some stunning support is Maureen Stapleton as the doomed man's wife. Her heart-on-the-sleeve performance is almost uncomfortable at times, so desolate and sympathetic is she. On the flip side, there is selfish, brittle, demanding (and thus irresistible) Dana Wynter as Lancaster's social-climbing wife. Her first name, by the way, is pronounced "Donna" in case anyone gives a hoot. Her name is a variation of Lana, as in Lana Turner.

Some folks will find this film slow-going, especially at first, but if one is invested in the storylines, the way they are drawn together will be sure to enthrall towards the end. This type of stylish, formal air travel is gone forever. It's neat to take a step back and see the way things (sort of) were. (This is a Ross Hunter production, after all, so the gloss is ladled on far more heavily than real life could have accommodated.)

Gown with the Wind

As mentioned in a prior post, The Towering Inferno was the movie in which my seven year-old pea brain finally realized that actors were actually used more than once rather than only doing one film in their lifetime. I was already aware of Faye Dunaway as a persona thanks to her work in The Three Musketeers and so was especially excited to see her amid the gigantic cast of Inferno.

She has a fun introductory scene in which Paul Newman comes into his office and starts talking to a large, high-backed chair. He removes a hat from this person the viewer cannot see and then Miss D. rises up to plant a devouring kiss on him. She obviously has read Dr. Atkins 1972 book because she informs Paul that he's better than a cheeseburger. "All protein. No bread." After they enjoy a mid-afternoon romp in the small bedroom she has prepared right off his office, she is seen modeling the red lingerie he has brought back from an extended trip. Faye and Paul make, to my mind, close to the perfect couple despite their ultimate lack of scenes together.

Later, when it's time for the grand opening gala of The Glass Tower, the title edifice which unfortunately bursts into flame on the big night, we see Dunaway in a dark taupe chiffon evening gown that barely covers her top and two back panels which waft behind her as she walks. Though the color is nothing to shoot the cat over, the style of the dress is remarkably provocative and unspeakably glamorous, especially as the evening wears on.

Eventually, she is trapped at the top of this 138 story building and one of the rescue attempts involves knocking out the windows of the top floor restaurant. This creates a strong draft which gives Faye a chance to play with her dress as it billows around. Shortly thereafter, she ascends to the roof of the building to meet a rescue helicopter and here things go really wild, with her gown flying all over the place. Finally, she is placed inside a scenic elevator that is knocked off its tracks midway down. Again, she is placed in a situation where her dress is given life by the air around her.

I can't possibly understand why this sort of thing appealed (and appeals!) to me, but it instilled in me an obsession with light fabric caught in the wind that has never left me. I suppose our early experiences at the cinema tend to leave an imprint on us and this was mine. All I know is that I could watch any clip of Faye Dunaway in this movie on a continuous loop and never tire of it! There's something also about the way she is clearly trying desperately to make some sort of impression in the film when her role is thankless window dressing. She imparts all of her few lines with a delicious repressed urgency and parades around like a goddess, frequently using her dress to draw attention to herself. (Check out, especially, the scene in which a crowd of people is listening to Paul Newman announce the use of the glass elevator and when it starts to break up, she remains behind on purpose and then grabs her dress in a way that grabs our eye!)

Costume designer Paul Zastupnevich worked almost exclusively with producer Irwin Allen and was Oscar-nominated three times for his trouble. Astonishingly, he was NOT nominated for The Towering Inferno, in which he created one of the most remarkable dresses of all time. In a bizarre twist, critics and audiences began chiding the man for having Faye "wear chiffon to a fire." This is lunacy! Of course, she was wearing chiffon to the dedication party of the world's tallest building that just happened to catch fire. The clothes he designed for the movie lent incredible visual interest to it and wouldn't have been the same if the ladies had been in brocade or velvet. It's one of the great oddities of Academy Award history. However, even he knew that Faye's dress was, perhaps, attention-getting for the wrong reasons. He was quoted as saying that "half of the suspense was wondering whether Faye was going to fall out of that dress." He was once quoted as having admitted that he'd employed tape to hold it in place and another time saying that there was none and that only Faye's regal posture held it in check, so who really knows...?

Her descent in the scenic elevator is one of my all time favorite shots in a movie. As the car begins to lower, she turns to face the outside of the building, clasps her hands together in an almost prayer-like formation and holds her head a certain way under the overhead light. This serves to turn her high-cheekboned face into a skull-like death mask. And the ride down does turn out to be a deadly one for one of the passengers.

  
Faye spent countless hours making sure she looked just so for this movie and she caught some major heat for it from William Holden who was tired of waiting for her on the set. Reportedly, he pressed her up against a wall and gave her what-for and her punctuality improved afterwards. In any case, I have never been more grateful to an actress/designer collaboration than I am to Faye and Paul (Z.) who together presented the movies with an unforgettable image.

Someone decided that a hefty chunk of her scenes would be better left out of the final print. Thankfully, an extended TV version included these and the 2-disc DVD includes them as well, as a bonus feature. I can think of quite a few other story fragments which could have been snipped instead, but at least they're available to see!

Imitation of a Back Street Madame

These early postings of mine are bound to cry out as having been written by a mother-dominated ninny! It's not necessarily so, it's just that I was raised by a single mom and we wound up spending a great deal of time together one-on-one, frequently at the movies or plunked down before the TV set watching them. Thus, the bulk of my early movie memories include her in some way.

In the early '70s, local channels would fill-in their broadcast day with old movies, probably using prints we'd rather forget about now in the high-definition age. I can remember lying on the floor while my mother tuned in to those good old fashioned "women's pictures" and noticing her stifling a tear towards the end of them (so designed were they to wring sobs out of anyone watching!)

My favorites were always the Universal-International ones, in vivid color, lavishly produced (often by Ross Hunter, whose name on a project usually guarantees that I'm going to enjoy myself, even if the movie is no good!) and typically featuring a once-mighty star who now was seeking a career boost.

Imitation of Life (1959), a remake of a 1934 Claudette Colbert film and based on a Fannie Hurst novel, became Universal's biggest grossing picture ever up to that point and made its star, Lana Turner, very rich thanks to her contractual arrangement for profit-sharing. Helmed by the masterful director Douglas Sirk, the film is amazing to behold, visually, especially when Lana hits it big and starts prancing around in jewels and eye-popping Jean Louis gowns. She plays a single mom who pairs up with another single (and black) mom in order to pursue an acting career. The story may be rather unbelievable at times (and by now pretty far removed from the source novel!), but it matters little thanks to the compelling theatrics, the creative direction and the cathartic charge it provides, especially on repeated viewings. And no one's eyes ever held tears more beautifully than Miss Lana's.

Back Street (1961), also made previously a couple of times and also based on a Fannie Hurst novel, is even more adrift from the source material. However, it serves up glitz and gloss in spades, having turned its adulterous heroine into a successful dress designer. Susan Hayward seems, at times, to be co-starring with a series of telephones, so often is she filmed with one, but she acts diligently with them as well as with her hunkalicious leading man John Gavin (who was also the male lead in Imitation of Life.) John was never known for his riveting acting prowess, but he was a strong-jawed, soft-spoken GOD in the looks department, providing amiable presence in many '50s and '60s films. Sadly for Susan, the real scene-stealer here is the often-earnest Vera Miles who, this time out, pulls out every stop to enact the shrewiest, nastiest, most jealous, drunken bitch she could come up with as she portrays John Gavin's wife! She's fantastic. The highlight of the film is when she makes a sudden appearance at Susan's charity fashion auction and introduces herself in an inimitable way.

My all time favorite film of this kind is Madame X (1966.) This one had been made previously quite a few times, but, like the films mentioned above, it got the glamour treatment this time out. Lana Turner plays a "girl" from a less than prestigious background who marries into a wealthy, almost Kennedy-esque family and soon draws the ire of her picky, ambitious and controlling mother-in-law Constance Bennett. Connie will do anything to ensure success for her son John Forsythe including shipping Lana across the sea, presumed dead. But that's only the beginning of the story! This one is almost a litmus test for me. Yes, the entire enterprise is far-fetched and overdone, but I don't think I could truly be friends with anyone who didn't get at least a little bit choked up at the climax of this film.

Imitation and Madame have been released (along with several other gems such as Portrait in Black, Written on the Wind and All That Heaven Allows) on DVD, but Back Street has not (nor have Where Love Has Gone or the highly-sought-after Love Has Many Faces!) VHS has provided the plasma to get myself and others over the hump until they come out.

The Big Family

Coming home from school as a child meant one thing... getting there and in place by 4:00pm to watch the daily reruns of The Big Valley! Born in '67, I was too young to have ever watched it in its initial four-year run. However, one day I happened to catch a rerun and caught a glimpse of fierce Victoria Barkley (played by Barbara Stanwyck), tough Nick (Peter Breck), hunky Heath (Lee Majors) and stunningly beautiful Audra (Linda Evans.)

I was basically raised an only child (one step-sister who I saw every other weekend and a half-sister who came much later), so I gravitated towards the tightly knit Barkleys (which also included dependable attorney Jarrod, played by Richard Long), perhaps enhanced by the fact that, like myself, they had a strong mother at the helm and the father was gone.

The show has an odd dichotomy to it. It began as a very realistic and serious family drama with Heath coming out of nowhere to claim his place as the illegitimate son of the deceased patriarch Tom Barkley. Victoria had long hair in a snood and Audra wore period-inspired dresses. But somewhere along the way, the show began to buck a lot of that and Victoria had a contemporary haircut and modern makeup (dig the false eyelashes!) along with plenty of kicky black leather riding ensembles. Audra's hair (which was just about the most beautiful hair ever to grace the small screen) got blonder and more modern in style and she began to look less and less like someone from the 19th century. Still, the show retained its seriousness for the most part. Some of the adventures the family underwent were quite violent and harrowing (and Barbara Stanwyck revelled in doing practically all of her own stunt work, once even being dragged on rugged, rocky ground for 150 feet!)

Yes, an occasional dud episode may sneak in, but generally the shows are captivating and entertaining, especially once the viewer begins to think of The Barkleys as a unit, devoted to each other even when experiencing their occasional brawls. What the show had, which so many shows today lack, was a sense of justice, integrity and dignity. The Barkleys always fought for what was right and just. Yes, they made mistakes, but they always did the right thing in the end. It was a family that I would have loved to have been a member of, if they'd have had me!

And what a great looking bunch they were! Stanwyck was in a class by herself in terms of latter day attractiveness and style. Premature grey be damned! Richard Long, though a bit dowdy compared to the other men, was a nice looking and debonair man. Peter Breck was dangerous and fiery (and, in some episodes, his display of manhood down near his chaps is eye-popping to say the least!) Heath was beautiful. Delectable. Audra's striking looks were almost too good to be true. (And it's a shame to see what poor Linda has done to her face of late.) A fourth son, Eugene (played by Charles Briles) was quickly written out with no explanation given aside from occasional references to college. Mr. Briles himself told me that he was drafted for The Vietnam War, which does add a sad footnote to his brief participation in the show. Thank goodness he made it through and hopefully was able to continue with a happy and contented life.

The theme song was always good, but in the 3rd and 4th seasons, it was augmented to make it more dramatic and little bit longer and this version is among the very best television theme songs of all time! Oddly, in recent syndication packages, the episodes use only two of the original four opening credit sequences. There were differences, sometimes minor, sometimes major, between all of them and it's a shame they aren't all available for viewing.