Dolores Moran

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YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?
Beat Bogie!
Great Movie To Watch
Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began....
Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages...

To Have and Have Not (Snap case)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks , and Robert Clampett
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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The Big Sleep
Key Largo (Snap Case)
Dark Passage (Snap Case)
The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)

ASIN: B0000B1OGH
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Amazon.com essential video

Yes, it's true: you can virtually see Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall falling for each other in this Howard Hawks variation on Casablanca but adapted from--as legend has it--Ernest Hemingway's self-declared "worst novel." (The story goes that Hawks told Hemingway he could make a movie of the author's least work, and Hemingway gave him the rights to this story.) The script by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman actually makes this one of Hawks's and Bogart's most interesting and often exciting films. Bogart plays a boat captain who reluctantly agrees to help the French Resistance while wooing chanteuse Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael, wry at the piano, adds a delicious accent to an already wonderful mood. --Tom Keogh

Description

Help the Free French? Not world-weary gunrunner Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). But he changes his mind when a sultry siren-in-distress named Marie asks, "Anybody got a match?" That red-hot match is Bogart and 19-year-old first-time film actress Lauren Bacall. Full of intrigue and racy banter (including Bacall's legendary whistling instructions), this thriller excites further interest for what it has and has not. Cannily directed by Howard Hawks and smartly written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, it doesn't have much similarity to the Ernest Hemingway novel that inspired it. And it strongly resembles Casablanca: French resistance fighters, a piano-playing bluesman (Hoagy Carmichael) and a Martinique bar much like Rick's Cafe Americaine. But first and foremost, it showcases Bogart and Bacall, carrying on with a passion that smolders from the tips of their cigarettes clear through to their souls.

Customer Reviews:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

A story based, very loosely based I might add, on Ernest Hemingway's short novel. A screenplay written in part by William Faulkner. The lead roles played by the charismatic Humphrey Bogart and the dishy Lauren Bacall with able assists by Walter Brennan and the legendary songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Some classic Hollywood lines. What is not to like about this 1940's black white film that still plays well after over fifty years. Only if you naively expected faithfulness to the author's novelistic intent by those who bought the film rights. But, don't be silly it happens all the time. If you want Hemingway's gritty tale of a down and out sea captain scratching out a living for his family anyway he can go read the book. Here we are talking about the film adaptation. And on those terms what a seamless piece of cinematic art.

As is the case in most of the early movies the story line is simple. Jaded boy meets slightly world-weary girl in the throes of Vichy-administered Martinique during World War II. Naturally, given the times, the local variant of the French Resistance is in need of help and a skittish, but in the end courageous, Captain Morgan (the Bogart role) is dragged into the middle of it. Some of this is an echo of the story line in Casablanca but this time Bogart, thankfully, does not let the dame go. All the politics and heroics aside this film is all about the romance. For a 1940's film the sexual tension and resolution between Morgan and Slim (Bacall's role) is as steamy as it gets with two people who still have their clothes on. It probably does not hurt the romantic buildup that Bogart and Bacall were becoming an item off-screen, as well. If you want classic Bogart and Bacall this is for you.

Beat Bogie!.......2007-04-10

DVD's have really spruced up my life! This is probably my favorite Bogart of them all. For years I have wanted to see it again and now to have it for anytime I want is great!

To me this is just a hair under Casablaca. The whole Nazi thing and the period of World War II movies. Bacall does a pretty good job for a 19 year old! Walter Brennan almost stole the show and it was good to see Delores Moran, what a doll! Always wondered why she made so few movies.

Bogie at his best in a film that almost did'nt get made.

Great Movie To Watch.......2007-04-01

I was inspired to watch "To Have and Have Not" by to reasons: Humphrey Bogart was always one of my favorite actors of Golden Age and also after reading an amazing book by Lauren Bacall " By myself and Some More".

The movie shows a great chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, the good actors can always convince us that there is chemistry, but when it's the real thing it is something different. "To Have and Have Not" is the starting point of one of the most romantic relationships in Old Hollywood.

Movie has great humour, some lines are hilarious, and leaves you cheered up. My only regret that it is a bit too short!

Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began...........2007-01-19

Supposedly Howard Hawkes told Ernest Hemingway a movie could be made of the "least" of the author's novels. And Hemingway signed over the rights to this novel. Between the movie and novel there is barely anything to compare, other than the main character's name is Harry Morgan, he has a sidekick by the name of Eddie, and a romantic interest by name of Marie. Mercifully, Howard Hawkes changed everything about the novel and cast Humphrey Bogart in the lead role. By casting up and coming model Lauren Bacall opposite Humphrey Bogart, movie history - and legend - was born.

The plot and dialogue in this film are certainly not stellar, and there are many other films from the 1940s that far outshine this one. However, the chemistry and sparks that ignite between Bogie and Bacall cannot be denied. Bogie plays the role he is most known for: self-possessed, street-wise, hard-boiled, with just a touch of desperation. This is the man one wants around in a crisis.

But Lauren Bacall plays a new type of leading lady. Beautiful and sexy, yes, but smart. This gal is not given over to hysterics or drama. Her life hasn't been easy, but she isn't sinking into a bottle or embittered about it. She faces life like a challenge - and knows that somehow she's going to win it. She's tough without being rough, strong while still looking fabulous, and she can turn a man to jello with "the look." If for no other reason, it is worth seeing this movie just to watch the debut of this actress!

When the movie ends, I'll doubt one remembers the plot or what everyone was up to and it won't even matter. This movie revolves so strongly around Bogie and Bacall, and they certainly do hold it together so very, very well, one doesn't even miss the rest of the movie. A pure delight!

Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages..........2007-01-15

Lauren Bacall, who gave men the license to whistle, was blessed by nature with two advantages: the personality of a buddy and the look of a Femme Fatale...

This combination initially took the only 19-years-old actress to the top with her first two films - 'To Have and Have Not' and 'The Big Sleep' - scoring a success even the deadpan expressions of a Buster Keaton could not undermine...

It helped, of course, to be co-starred in them with Humphrey Bogart who fell in love with her during shooting, and to have Howard Hawks, who deliberately set out to prove that he could make her a star, directing her every move in the same totally controlled way Joseph Von Sternberg had done with Marlene Dietrich...

'To Have and Have Not' is an almost unrecognizable adaptation of the Hemingway novel... The Rick character again appears, though with a new name... The film is a fairly routinely adventure, with a plot that isn't all that interesting, and with a frequently laughable dialog, but it sparks into life when Bogart and the leading blonde, with whom he is deeply in love and to whom he will later be married, appear...

The girl is Lauren Bacall, in her first movie... Cool, smooth, and gorgeous, she sets the screen on fire from her first entrance... She was a new kind of heroine...

Opposite Bogart she was colorful and believable... She had no illusions about herself... She was used to getting by, making out as best she could... She wanted Bogey and she let him know it... She offers herself to him, bravely and without shame: ' You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. (She opens his door and pauses.) You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together - and blow.'

With the effective use of her sexy, sultry, speaking voice and her confident eyes, Howard Hawks creates a new screen image, and one of the most sizzling yet sexual propositions on film...

Lauren Bacall has become heir to our memories of the truly memorable star of the 1940s, and, in her own way, one of them...

"To Have or Have Not" was remade as "The Breaking Point" with John Garfield and "The Gun Runners" with Audie Murphy and both were, inferior to the original...

The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2 (Marked Woman / Jezebel / The Man Who Came to Dinner / Old Acquaintance / What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Two-Disc Special Edition)

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Excellent Collection of Bette Davis Classics- It's Volume 2 Darling!
Volume 3
Bette Davis Part 3
The Bette Davis Collection Vol. 2
Great actress, great set

The Bette Davis Collection, Vol. 2 (Marked Woman / Jezebel / The Man Who Came to Dinner / Old Acquaintance / What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Bette Davis , Miriam Hopkins , Gig Young , John Loder , and Dolores Moran
Director: Vincent Sherman , William Wyler , and Lloyd Bacon
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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Similar Items:

The Bette Davis Collection (The Star / Mr. Skeffington / Dark Victory / Now, Voyager / The Letter)
Clark Gable - The Signature Collection (Dancing Lady / China Seas / San Francisco / Wife vs. Secretary / Boom Town / Mogambo)
Tennessee Williams Film Collection (A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Two-Disc Special Edition / Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 1958 Deluxe Edition / Sweet Bird of Youth / The Night of the Iguana / Baby Doll / The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone)
Warner Bros. Pictures Tough Guys Collection (Bullets or Ballots / City for Conquest / Each Dawn I Die / G Men / San Quentin / A Slight Case of Murder)
Carole Lombard - The Glamour Collection (Hands Across the Table/ Love Before Breakfast/ Man of the World/ The Princess Comes Across/ True Confession/ We're Not Dressing)

ASIN: B000EU1Q40
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Amazon.com

Bette Davis's long career as a Warner Bros. contract star is crowded with decent movies, so it's no surprise that Vol. 2 of The Bette Davis Collection is about as strong as the first such DVD bundle. Even so, it strays from the classic years by including the latter-career What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, also made at Warner, and an entire disc given to a new feature-length documentary. The earliest title here is 1937's Marked Woman, a tart vehicle from the busy period following her first Oscar. Bette plays a clip-joint girl recruited by D.A. Humphrey Bogart to rat on a Lucky Luciano-style mob boss. Here Davis spits and sparks like a young dragon, so electrically "on" that other actors sometimes look a little afraid of her.

Jezebel is one of the best-remembered of Davis's performances, and the second of her Oscar wins. Something of an audition for the Gone with the Wind lead (of course she didn't get that part), Davis plays a scheming New Orleans belle whose headstrong behavior brings grief to fiancé Henry Fonda--and eventually to herself. This was the first time William Wyler directed Davis, and the intensity of their collaboration (and affair) is visible. The Man Who Came to Dinner, while a fun movie, is not a Davis vehicle; she takes a distinctly supporting role to Monty Woolley's deliciously nasty re-creation of his Broadway triumph. He plays the famous writer Sheridan Whiteside, waylaid by a cracked hip in the home of some squares in small-town Ohio.

Old Acquaintance (1943) is a trademark Warner "women's picture," with Davis and Miriam Hopkins as childhood friends who become rival writers in adulthood (the John Van Druten play was later remade as Rich and Famous). Hopkins has the showier role, but Davis shines by contrast. Davis and Hopkins hated each other in real life, which must have been good preparation for Davis on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, her epic showdown with Joan Crawford, filmed as both actresses found their careers well into eclipse. The two former screen queens were not friendly and had never worked together, but their inspired casting in this Grand Guignol tale resulted in a surprise box-office smash. Robert Aldrich brought his smart sensibility to the story of two showbiz sisters living a grotesque existence well out of the public eye. The movie has become a camp classic in the years since its release, a phenomenon acknowledged by the disc's commentary track featuring veteran female impersonators Charles Busch and John Epperson ("Lypsinka"). The set also includes a bonus disc of supporting short documentaries and archival footage.

Stardust: The Bette Davis Story is a feature doc that gives a thorough cruise through Davis's life and career, with an emphasis on the warts-and-all side of biography (an admiring Susan Sarandon narrates). It's well paced and heavy with good clips, although it does render some the supporting bios on the Baby Jane bonus disc redundant. --Robert Horton

Description

A seven-disc set of Marked Woman, Jezebel, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Old Acquaintance, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Two-Disc Special Edition, and the 2005 documentary Stardust: The Bette Davis Story. With expert commentaries, new and vintage documentary profiles, new and vintage featurettes, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Collection of Bette Davis Classics- It's Volume 2 Darling!.......2007-04-25

I, like many other die-hard Bette Davis and classic movie buffs, have awaited this release mainly for the DVD debuts of, "The Man Who Came To Dinner" and "Old Acquaintance," both great Davis films. I was very pleased to see that the film "Jezebel," which was Davis' calling card for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Selznick's "Gone With The Wind" had undergone a beautiful job of remastering! The "2 disc Special Edition" of the ultimate pairing of legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford puts icing on the cake with "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" I wasn't too familiar with "Marked Woman," however, it's an interesting film and is a nice addition to the set. Also included is the 2005 documentary entitled, "Stardust; The Bette Davis Story," which shines some light on Davis' career -and some nice footage of her classic films.

"Marked Woman" (1937)
Mary Dwight (Bette Davis) works as a hostess at the Club Intime run by ruthless gangster Johnny Vanning (Eduardo Ciannelli). When one of her "clients" is murdered prosecutor David Graham (Humphrey Bogart) questions Mary but she won't cooperate and Vanning is acquitted. When Mary's sister Betty (Jane Bryan) is killed by one of Vanning's thugs she decides to spill the beans and is beaten into disfigurement. At her bedside all the witnesses agree to testify.

"Jezebel" (1938)
Set in antebellum New Orleans during the early 1850's, this film follows Julie Marsden (Bette Davis) through her quest for social redemption on her own terms. Julie is a beautiful and free spirited Southern belle who is sure of herself and controlling of her fiancé Preston Dillard, (Henry Fonda) a successful young banker. Julie's sensitive but domineering personality--she does not want so much to hurt as to assert her independence--forces a wedge between Preston and herself. To win him back, she plays North against South amid a deadly epidemic of yellow fever, which claims a surprising victim.

"The Man Who Came To Dinner" (1942)
Sheridan Whiteside, (Monty Woolley) an eccentric and acid-tongued radio lecturer, is disabled on the doorstep of a prominent Ohio family and must remain confined to the unwilling family's home for a few days. Discovering what he believes to be problems within the household, Sheridan ("Sherry") discovers his leg is fine. Bribing the doctor to declare him unfit to leave for a few weeks, Sherry hatches a plot to fix all of the household's problems, including his loyal secretary Maggie Cutler (Bette Davis) who has just discovered her true love Bert Jefferson (Richard Travis). Lots of fun here with great performances by the entire cast which also include Ann Sheridan, Billie Burke, and the wonderfully comic Jimmy Durante.

"Old Acquaintance" (1943)
Established serious author Kit Marlowe (Bette Davis) inspires hometown pal Millie Drake (Miriam Hopkins) who writes a trashy novel published with Kit's help. Millie's husband Preston (John Loder) leaves her. Ten years of trashy novels later Millie tries to reconcile, but Preston is marrying another. Millie accuses Kit of husband stealing. Later Kit learns of Millie's daughter Diedre's (Dolores Moran) affection for Rudd, (Gig Young) whom Kit was thinking of marrying. Kit blesses their union and makes up with Millie.

"What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" (1962) -2 disc Special Edition-
Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, (Bette Davis) a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, (Joan Crawford) whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge. Spiteful pranks and bitchy dialogue make this one a jewel in the "Crown of Camp!"

"Stardust: The Bette Davis Story" (2005) -documentary-
Covering the early and later parts of the legendary star's vast film career, "Stardust" captures the allure of Davis in her early films and goes on to show her courage and in-your-face attitude which mesmerized her fans and made her a box office draw even in her golden years. Some of the material can also be seen on Disc 2 of the `What Ever Happened To Baby Jane" DVD, however, there is enough in "Stardust" to make it a nice addition to the set, as well.

A rumored "Bette Davis Collection: Volume 3" is supposedly in the works and set for release this year, however, nothing official has been announced of the titles to be included or the date of release. Hopefully a box set entitled "The Joan Crawford Collection: Volume 2" will accompany Davis third box set release -there's a lot of Crawford classics still awaiting a DVD release, as well. But until then, enjoy this "Volume 2 collection of Davis classics, it will sit well next to your Volume 1 set of your Classic DVD Library.

Volume 3.......2007-04-06

Volumes 1 & 2 are fine. Some suggestions for Volume 3:
-"Beyond the Forest" (camp noir classic with immortal line: "What a dump!" All those viewers who've only heard the line parodied in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" could hear the original source! King Vidor's direction is full of mood and evocative of German expressionism.)
-"Dangerous" (Davis' fresh, dynamic performance in this film resulted in her first Oscar for Best Actress. Isn't that enough reason to release it? Far better than her performance in "The Star")
- "The Little Foxes" special edition (this film is one of the greatest filmizations of a stage play & deserves a special edition. The current DVD release doesn't have a single extra on it! A shame! A 2-disc DVD is called for!
- "The Old Maid" (far better than "Old Acquaintance", this is one of the best soap opera tearjerker period piece women's films. Davis gives one of her most sensitive, vulnerable performances and ages quite realistically in this film.)
- "In This Our Life" (another camp classic with Davis playing a bad girl to the hilt. John Huston's direction is colorful.)
- "Juarez" (although Davis has a small part, the film is historically interesting and as the Mexican Empress Carlota, Davis gives a vivid portrait of a woman going mad.)

Bette Davis Part 3.......2007-04-03

Parts 1 & 2 are fantastic, but when are we going to get Part 3.

The Bette Davis Collection Vol. 2.......2007-02-23

I love this collections - it is a wonderful addition to my 'Bette Davis Library'.
Regards

Great actress, great set.......2007-02-05

Among the great movie actresses of the first half of the Twentieth Century, there was arguably no one better than Bette Davis. Although good-looking, she didn't really have the same great Hollywood beauty that other well-known actresses had. Her greatness came from much more from pure talent than from appearance; in fact, some of her best roles were rather unflattering. Volume 2 of the Bette Davis Collection showcases five of her roles in a variety of genres: gangster film, Southern romance, comedy, "woman's" picture and horror.

The first movie (chronologically speaking) is Marked Woman, which fits right into the classic Warner Brothers gangster movies, albeit with a female protagonist. Davis plays Mary, a "dancer" for a nightclub run by a crooked mobster. Ambitious and independent, she is comfortable enough with her career as long as it finances her sister's college education. Eventually, things go sour and she is forced to make some hard choices. Humphrey Bogart has a supporting role as a noble D.A.

Nex is Jezebel, sometimes described as Davis's consolation for not getting cast in Gone With the Wind. As the rebellious Julie in antebellum New Orleans, she has some similarity to Scarlett O'Hara, but is generally different. Her efforts to defy the customs of Southern aristocracy - culminating in her wearing an inappropriate dress to a ball - costs her dearly. Henry Fonda plays her fiance who comes to find her renegade ways too much. Davis would win an Oscar in her role; ironically, this movie actually preceded Gone With the Wind in the theaters.

The Man Who Came to Dinner is an adaptation of a stage comedy. Davis plays the personal assistant to an arrogant writer who comes to dine in the house of a fan and winds up confined there after an accident. Davis plays a significant but smaller part in this ensemble comedy which is still quite amusing.

Old Acquaintance tells the story of two friends over the course of twenty years. Davis is a literary author who is well-respected; Miriam Hopkins has lesser skills but churns out the best-sellers. Often times they are more rivals than friends, as Hopkins sacrifices all for hollow success.

Finally, there is What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which co-stars Davis's real-life rival, Joan Crawford. Davis plays Jane, a former child star in the days of vaudeville. Crawford plays her sister, who was a successful actress until being crippled in an accident. Now Crawford is being tormented by her sister. Davis's version of Jane is wonderfully crazed.

There is a boatload of special features in the set, including one disc that has Stardust: The Bette Davis Story, a sometimes cheesy but generally informative biography that shows that even if Davis was a great actress, she was not a very nice person. There are shorts and mini-documentaries on the films, along with commentaries on Jezebel, Old Acquaintance and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? This final movie also has a whole disc of bonus features including a second biography of Davis. All the movies are either four or five-star quality, so the set as a whole merits five stars. If you are a Davis fan, this will be a delight to watch; if you're unfamiliar with her work, this set is a good place to start.

Average customer rating:

double occupancy
Miriam Over the Top
What Friendship is Really About
"Millie and I remember things together."
The prototype "Womens Picture"

Old Acquaintance
Starring: Bette Davis , Miriam Hopkins , Gig Young , John Loder , and Dolores Moran
Director: Vincent Sherman , Ralph Staub , and Chuck Jones
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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Marked Woman
The Man Who Came to Dinner
The Anniversary
Mr. Skeffington
Jezebel (Restored and Remastered Edition)

ASIN: B000EU1Q2C
Release Date: 2006-05-30

Amazon.com

Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins--a pair of actresses who hated each other--re-mix their chemistry from The Old Maid in Old Acquaintance, an entertaining adaptation of John Van Druten's play. The action begins with Davis, a semi-famous author, returning to her small town and the home of old friend Hopkins. The later has opted for the settled life of husband and pregnancy, and she doesn't much hide her envy of Davis's success. Then the tables turn, as Hopkins pens a series of potboilers that sell much better than her friend-rival's. The movie keeps checking up on these two as the years pass, each wanting what the other has. It kicks around such staples as career vs. family, but what comes across most memorably in Old Acquaintance is the friendship between the two characters despite their rivalry; in that sense, the best scene in the film is the last scene. Hopkins has the flashy role, a silly ninny who seemingly never stops screeching, and Davis takes the more centered, self-effacing part. (By the way, Davis said that a scene in which she wears men's pajama tops caused a bit of a vogue at the time.) The men are in the background, although John Loder does a nice job of layering a gentle humor to Hopkins' long-suffering husband. Gig Young, in one of his earliest roles, is almost unrecognizable as a Davis paramour. Vincent Sherman (Mr. Skeffington) directed this example of the "women's picture," the kind of movie that kept Bette Davis the queen of the Warner Bros. lot. It was nicely remade by director George Cukor in 1981 as Rich and Famous, with Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

double occupancy.......2007-06-09

OLD ACQUAINTANCE is among a handful of Bette Davis films I'd not seen (nor felt compelled to see) before now. Last week I attended a preview of the play upon which the film is based, in a valiant Broadway production of a rather creaky pre-war "sophisticated" comedy, and immediately ordered a DVD of the movie version.

The legendary antipathy off-screen between stars Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins fuels audience appreciation of the on-screen Kit and Millie. Indeed, most discussions of the movie substitute the actresses's names for those of their characters. And indeed their acting styles are so different that they appear to be merely occupying the same film from separate universes. But it's the differences between the stage play and the film that are particularly fascinating.

Almost all the play is radically rewritten for the screen, except for the penultimate scene (now in a taxi) in which Kit helps Millie's daughter understand what it means to be a mature woman.

The play and the movie provide a record of what was considered shocking at the time and how Hollywood reknit controversy into homespun for the Hays Office. In the voiceover commentary, Boze Hadleigh mentions in passing that audiences back in the '40s would expect that a romance between an older woman and a man ten years her junior must fail; but it is precisely this hook that apparently was playwright John Van Druten's central and dominant topic. Since this only takes up the last third of the film, it's easy to see how that's now just a minor plot point.

The original play takes place between Thanksgiving and the New Year in the luxury apartments of Kit and Millie. Kit has just spent the night with her ardent lover (aged 36 on stage and 22 in the film--to make Davis's matronly 42 less ungracious and to explain why her beau isn't apparently in the wartime military when we first meet him). The couple are Manhattan professionals: bright, physically aggressive with each other, and vulnerably in love. No heavy glasses and white-streaked wig (Davis props) suggest that Kit's "older woman" isn't her lover's equal in bed. Their marriage could work.

In Act I, Millie's 18-year-old daughter has been staying with Kit in New York rather than with her own mother in swanky Westchester. The girl staggers in from her date with an older man around nine in the morning, and later confesses that she knows the guy is merely a roue but perhaps he'll make a woman of her. (Not for the Hollywood censors, he won't!) I do agree with director Vincent Sherman that Dolores Moran is not ideal as the daughter. She looks older than even Gig Young, and is taller than both Kit and Millie! But the ingenue virgin is not an easy role to pull off for any actress.

In the play Millie's ex-husband's plan to marry a rival socialite infuriates Millie. Elsewhere she tells Kit outright that she, Millie, always got the goods (husband, daughter, far greater success as a writer) but that Kit always got the real glamour (celebritous love affairs and a reputation as a serious artiste). Millie's raw envy and tinsel attempts to grasp Kit's genuine success combine to make her almost endearing. Inclusion of some of this dialogue from the play might have led to more tolerance toward Hopkins from commentator Hadleigh, but then again he is credited for having written a book about Davis, not about Hopkins.

Millie's ex-husband appears only briefly in the play's second act, when Millie cattily invites him over to smear his fiancee. And the daughter's would-be seducer is mentioned more candidly and more often in the play but is never seen.

The mantra of the women's friendship ("There's always the icing") makes no more sense as a metaphor than the maxim in the play (something about a ladel of cooking fat). And in the play it does not bond them as the wisdom from Millie's mother, but from their childhood cook ... in Negro dialect.

The film version is much livelier by opening up the story to actually play out the youthful friendship, Kit's spurning the advances of her best friend's husband, etc. It's interesting to see so much schtick invented only for the screen, especially in the Twenties section: Kit asleep on the train, the difficulties being photographed, the broken heel, the husband's frequent returns to Kit's bedroom. One wonders how much of this additional material Van Druten himself actually provided.

While the 1940 play concentrates on Kit's sex life and Millie's self-delusion, the movie throws in a hotel house detective who's also a bootlegger. Most variant from the WASPy Phillip Barry sophisticated world of Van Druten's stage show, the wartime movie dutifully promotes patriotic support for the Red Cross ... and almost constant cigarette smoking. But, whatever the decade, Kit and Millie are coifed and dressed in a style contemporary with the Forties. (In a slam at rival Joan Crawford, Davis boasted that she never was filmed wearing oversized shoulderpads; OLD ACQUAINTANCE belies her claim.)

Miriam Hopkins steals the picture in a tremendous feat of comic acting. The voice-over commentary doesn't seem to know this is a comedy. He extols Davis for her constraint as Kit, while dismissing Hopkins as a too vain and B-level star. The play version spells out the "lovable shallowness" of the authoress of potboiler best-sellers, as her daughter and Kit scoff at the middle-aged woman's pretentious gowns, attempts to look younger, and inability to see how ridiculous others consider her to be. (Hadleigh faults Hopkins herself for these excesses.) In the film, Millie's cigarette holder and ostentatious gown for seducing her ex-husband get lost in the general glamour of a Hollywood production. But Hopkins is funny in a manner reminiscent of Carole Lombard, even though she's deprived of the shadings from the play that make the character more sympathetic.

Hadleigh's commentary frequently praises Davis's Kit as an underplayed pillar of tact and wisdom, and opines that no one would marry or stay lifelong friends with the overdone selfish witch that Hopkins limns. In the play, Van Druten points out that "Potboiler" Millie has a cunning for marketing that helps authoress Kit prune the density from HER books. Hadleigh is correct, therefore, to observe that the film all but ignores the authoring bond of these two professional successes, a point he might have citing even more vehemently had he been more familiar with the play version.

It isn't merely that Hopkins's antics are great fun to watch. In Davis's previous film with John Loder, her heroine turns down his marriage proposal with the famous line about not asking for the moon when they've got the stars ... almost as cryptic in actual sense as its cousin about icing, but fun. In OLD ACQUAINTANCE Davis relies on that noble staunchiness for her entire characterization. We've seen it when she dies beautifully in DARK VICTORY and when explaining her husband's heroics to her naive D.C. family in WATCH ON THE RHINE. But here, to me, Davis just comes off as stuffy--a one-note saint. A pleasure to watch, as always, but eclipsed by Hopkins whenever they share the screen.

Hadleigh asks director Vincent Sherman whether Davis sought his advice about how to play the role of Kit. He says she didn't do so until after a couple days of shooting, while he waited for her to raise the matter. (The sign of a not strong director?) When Davis finally did ask him for guidance, what he told her couldn't be more obvious to anyone familiar with the story. Perhaps Wyler or Mankiewicz would have freed Davis to provide a more vinegary subtext.

Curiously, in the current Broadway production Kit's character (and the play) only fully come into their own in the final third. At that time, the Broadway actress playing Kit sells her role by channelling a Bette Davis performance. But better than Davis: the dignified poise and subtle wisdom of a sophisticate, without the faux nobility.

All in all the DVD is a good presentation of this material, though I could only sit through two thirds of the commentary track.

Miriam Over the Top.......2007-03-29

Interesting film, but not one of Bette's best. Miriam Hopkins (much better acting in "These Three" and "The Heiress") eats the scenery every time. Poorly cast as 20 something looking at least 50 years old at the beginning of film. Outstanding is Vincent Sherman, the director's interview on the DVD--great insight into the making of the film and personalities of Mim and Bette.

What Friendship is Really About.......2007-01-05

Another Classic Bette Davis film, The consumate actress and in this wonderful piece she is joined by another really great actress, Miriam Hopkins.
Together they give true friendship and loyalty a run for their money
Don't miss it.

"Millie and I remember things together." .......2006-06-21

Having just read that famed director Vincent Sherman died, it seems a fitting tribute to take a look Old Acquaintance, one of the films he made with the legendary Bette Davis. Part of the recently released Bette Davis Collection volume 2, Old Acquaintance is a classy and stylish movie about the topsy-turvy relationship between two women who end up bearing it all for friendship, loyalty and for love. As the saying goes, friendship has no bounds.

In Old Acquaintance, Bette Davis plays Kit Marlowe, a serious literary writer who has returned to her childhood home to stay with her best friend Millie Drake (Miriam Hopkins). Kit is a down-to-earth and unpretentious sort of girl, modest, cheerful, and ladylike - she sails through life with an unassuming confidence. Millie's husband Preston (John Loder) obviously has a soft spot for her, and likewise Kit is attracted to him, although she doesn't want to admit it to herself or to Preston.

Millie, however, is a surefire pain the neck. Neurotic and insecure, she aches for a life of her own, outside of the trimmings of her husband and her quiet domestic existance, and is inspired by her friend's visit to try and get her trashy romance novel published. Although Kit has had minimal success herself - her own novels have "artistic merit" - she agrees to help Millie out.

Fast forward eight years 1932 and Millie has become a huge success from romance potboilers - most of the critics agree that they're trash. She's now incredibly wealthy and can afford to live in salubrious apartment in Manhattan, deck herself out in gorgeous outfits and give her young daughter Deirdre absolutely anything.

The problem is that she maybe rich but she's still self-absorbed. Preston still suffers by her side choosing to endure indignities to be a good dad to Deirdre. Kit stays the ever-loyal friend, taking Deirdre shopping and putting up with her best friend's temper tantrums. The deep love between Kit and Preston is still unfulfilled, and as the story progresses, he again professes his love for Kit. Kit returns his love but cannot "do that" to a friend.

A woman of integrity, Kit plays the martyr as she turns down Preston's advances yet again. Time moves on and all three characters cross paths, and there's more romantic shenanigans involving Deirdre, (Delores Moran) now all grown up and Kit's younger suitor Rudd Kendall (Gig Young).

Much of the drama in Old Acquaintance centers on the ever changing needs between Millie and Kit. The poor Kit is constantly having to put her own needs on the back burner, while she spends much of her live feverishly trying to placate the insufferably selfish Millie, who has never listened to reason and who automatically assumes Kit's friendship with her husband is more than platonic. Meanwhile, Kit is getting on in years and feels the pressure to marry and have children - this is a real issue for her as she's ten years older than Rudd.

Sherman directs the film with a great style and visual flair and he really manages to nail the characters, emphasizing how diametrically apposed Kit and Millie actually are. Kit is the selfless, dependable sufferer for a cause, while Millie is all to ready to sacrifice a lifelong friendship for petty jealousies.

Old Acquaintance is also notable for the fact that Bette Davis decided to take on the nice, mannered and subtle character, rather than play, showier, over-the-top role, which Hopkins made her own. This is a smart, erudite - if not a little talky - movie that really presents a friendship that truly does weather the stormy waters of time. Mike Leonard June 06.

The prototype "Womens Picture".......2006-06-17

"Old Acquaintance", a masterful Warner Brothers production from 1943, tells the story of a friendship between 2 woman over 25 years of their lives. Both are authors, one of trashy romance novels and the other of serious ones. This reflects their natures. Miriam Hopkins plays the flighty superficial Millie and Bette Davis plays the level headed intellectual Kit. The story tracks their relationship through Millie's marriage and divorce, Kit's romance with Millie's husband (unrequited) and her affair with a younger man to the prospect of a lonely old age together.

Both actresses are well cast and the film raises many issues for women - career versus marriage, youth versus age in relationships etc. In 1943 Hollywood, these were unusual subjects and hence the enormous popularity of the film for the female audience. The conclusion seems to be that you can't have both as Hopkins finds out; Davis remains faithful to her career and forgos love with suitable self-sacrifice. The film will not really appeal to a male audience.

"Old Acquaintance" is beautifully made. While Hopkins penchant for theatrical mannerisms and overacting sits perfectly on her character here, Davis still outshines her with her superb mastery of the medium. Watch her use of props in this film and her movement around the sets. Hopkins has dated, Davis has not. The climax of the film is probably the scene when Davis shakes Hopkins, reportedly reflecting the attitude of the director and the film crew, not just the audience. The film also has a fine Franz Waxman score, never used better than in the intimate scene in the hotel lobby when Davis explains to John Loder, Hopkin's husband, why she can not marry him. This scene is perfectly staged and lit too and for me, the best scene in the film.

The DVD benefits from a very good commentary by Boz Hadleigh accompanied by the elderly Vincent Sherman, the director of the film. It is a treat to hear Sherman speak highly of Davis and her co-operation and intelligence while making the film. There is also a cartoon, a short, the original trailer (showing some shots cut from the film) and a short discussion of the film by the a number of historians/ biographers. These Warner's DVDs provide a lot of enjoyable extras and are good value.

This film has never been available before but can now be obtained alone or as part of the Davis Collection Volume 2. It is a worthwhile addition to the usual Davis classics.

Average customer rating:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?
Beat Bogie!
Great Movie To Watch
Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began....
Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages...

To Have and Have Not (Keepcase)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

The Big Sleep
Key Largo (Snap Case)
Dark Passage (Snap Case)
The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)

ASIN: B000FFJYAW
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Amazon.com essential video

Description

Customer Reviews:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

Beat Bogie!.......2007-04-10

Great Movie To Watch.......2007-04-01

Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began...........2007-01-19

Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages..........2007-01-15

Average customer rating:

Silver Screen buff
A 1954 western with shades of High Noon
"great cast Payne, Scott & Duryea ~ Silver Lode (1954)"
A glass of cold barley water
Very fine RKO western ....and an excellent DVD

Silver Lode (1954)
Starring: John Payne , Lizabeth Scott , Dan Duryea , Dolores Moran , and Emile Meyer
Director: Allan Dwan
Manufacturer: Vci Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Tennessee's Partner
Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition)
Cattle Queen of Montana
The Man Behind the Gun / Thunder Over the Plains / Riding Shotgun
Slightly Scarlet

ASIN: B000067J2J
Release Date: 2002-06-25

Customer Reviews:

Silver Screen buff.......2006-06-30

John Payne, Dan Duryea and Lizbeth Scott gave tense, very good performances in this color western. John Payne was especially good at showing what can happen to a person as he is slowly stripped of his self-respect, reputation and every friend in town, who desert him. Finally, he is down to nothing but self-preservation and survival. Lizbeth Scott is Payne's loyal love interest and Dan Duryea plays a convincing and clever villain. There are insinuations of 'McCarthyism' in the film, but they are too simplistic to be taken seriously. The career of Senator Joseph (Tailgunner Joe) McCarthy had a lot more to it than could be talked about here.
I thought the color balance, sound and image clarity were very good for this DVD.

A 1954 western with shades of High Noon.......2006-04-26

A Federal Marshal and his deputies ride into the western town of Silver Lode during 4th July celebrations claiming to have a warrant for the arrest of one of its citizens Dan Ballard on this his wedding day. Slowly the townsfolk turn against Ballard leaving him with only the support of the two women in his life.

The stoic hero is played by John Payne with his back against the wall for most of the film and Dan Duryea is the villain of the piece. Lizabeth Scott is Ballard's fiance and Dolores Moran plays the saloon girl. The film moves along at a fine pace well directed by Allan Dwan

John Payne turns in a fine performance as the hero and "Baddies" don't get much better than Dan Duryea! Altogether a fine western DVD movie plus Trailer etc

"great cast Payne, Scott & Duryea ~ Silver Lode (1954)".......2005-10-30

VCI Entertainment presents "Silver Lode" (1954) (Dolby digitally remastered)...an RKO Pictures production featuring John Payne, Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea...story is drama at its best, very similar to "High Noon"...four men ride into the town of "Silver Lode" with a warrant for John Payne led by Duryea, with Carey Jr, Hale Jr and Whitman as the deputies...is Payne guilty of murder and taking $20,000, can he find some proof that these charges are false and unwarranted...is the town standing behind him or they split right down the middle of his innocence...Duryea is the brother of the man Payne is accused of killing in Discovery, will they take him alive or dead...can Payne depend on Rose the saloon girl who still carries a flame for him...will four desperate men claiming to be lawmen who are bent on revenge find an innocent victum for their next target of murder...watch as the screens most exciting manhunt begins when one man fights against mob violence and his survival...is it my imagination or is this close to the McCarthy witch hunt for communists in the film industry during '50s...however the point is well take as this is a very good western with fine performances...so pop some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the movie.

Under director Allan Dwan, producer Benedict Bogeaus with original story by Karen DeWolf, music composed by Louis Forbes...the cast include John Payne (Dan Ballard), Lizabeth Scott (Rose Evans), Dan Duryea (Ned McCarthy-marshall), Dolores Moran (Dolly), Harry Carey Jr (Johnson-deputy), Alan Hale Jr (Kirk-deputy), Stuart Whitman (Wickers-deputy), Morris Anktrum (Zachary Evans), I.Stanford Jolley (Bit part), Myron Healey (Rider), Lane Chandler (Man at fire), Frank Sully (Paul Herbert), Emile Meyer (Sheriff Wooley), Robert Warwick (Judge Cranston), John Hudson (Michael 'Mitch' Evans), Roy Gordon (Dr. Elmwood), Hugh Sanders (townsman), Florence Auer (Mrs. Elmwood), Ralph Sanford (Joe-bartender), Al Haskell (Sheriff's Deputy), John Dierkes (Blacksmith), Edgar Barrier (Taylor).....special note on actor John Payne played Vint Bonner in "Restless Gun": (1957-59) legendary gunfighter hero who drifts in and out of towns during the old west helping the underdog...and actor Dan Duryea was outstanding in the Bette Davis film "The Little Foxes", but remembered in the 1948 Universal Film "Black Bart", as the black garbed highwayman making away with Wells Fargo bounty in a series of stagecoach holdups, wonderful hard riding scenes over the technicolor plains....familiar veteran actors supporting the cast with Morris Ankrum (Hoppy films as the villain), Lane Chandler (Duke Wayne's sidekick in many B-Westerns), Myron Healey (the cowboy picking on Dean Martin in the saloon scene "Rio Bravo"), Robert Warwick (played everything from Indian Chief to Judge in the '40s) and one of my favorite character actors I.Stanford Jolley who was always in the thick of rustling, bank robbing or running the local saloon, great stuff from those days of B-Westerns.....there's a great deal of entertainment here for "B-Western" fans out there...all courtesy of VCI Entertainment, who in my humble opinion is the best there is in restoring early serials and features like this one.

SCENE SELECT:
1. Strangers
2. Accusations
3. Friends
4. Time
5. Information
6. The Plan
7. Twisted Truth
8. On The Run
9. In Hiding
10.Alone
11.Surrounded
12.Telegram

SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. "Silver Lode" (original theatrical trailer)

BIOS:
1. John Payne
Birth Date: 5/23/1912 - Roanoke, VA
Died: 12/06/1989 - Malibu, California
2. Lizabeth Scott (aka Emma Matzo)
Birth Date: 9/29/1922 - Scranton, PA
Died: still living
3. Dan Duryea
Birth Date: 1/23/1907 - White Plains, NY
Died: 6/07/1968 - Hollywood, CA

Own them now on DVD....if you crave action, drama and plenty of adventure then this is the place for all of the above...if you enjoyed this feature check out another as VCI Entertainment presents "Cattle Queen of Montana" (1954) (Dolby digitally remastered)...an RKO Pictures production featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan...story line has Sierra Nevada Jones (Stanwyck) and her father (Ankrum) arriving in Montana to file their claim for some prime ranch land...while camping and bedding down the cattle Natchakoa (Caruso) with his band of renegade tribesmen raid the camp and steal the cattle...land owner and neighbor McCord (Evans) is behind all of the bad events that happen to Sierra...with the help of Colorados (Fuller) son of the chief who has attended the whitemans college is trying to bring peace between the Indian and townspeople...is Farrell (Reagan) who is working for McCord and his henchman Yost (Jack Elam) help Sierra Jones...can Farrell who is a hired gun be working for the army undercover...will his fast gun help turn the tide for the Cattle Queen of Montana...this above average B-Western will keep you guessing to the very last scene.

Great job by VCI Entertainment for releasing the "Silver Lode" (1954), digital transfere with a clean, clear and crisp print...looking forward to more of the same from the '50s vintage...order your copy now from Amazon or VCI Entertainment, stay tuned once again with a top notch Westerns from VCI...so saddle up and get ready for some hard riding and adventure that only VCI Entertainment (King of the Serials) can deliver...just the way we like 'em!

Total Time: 80 mins on DVD ~ VCI Entertainment 8291 ~ (6/25/2002)

A glass of cold barley water.......2004-09-14

An elder gunslinger is marrying a beautiful young blonde when a posse of Trouble ride into town. The townsfolk forsake him and, save for the women who love him, he stands alone to meet his fate. Welcome to High Noon Redux, also known as SILVER LODE.
SILVER LODE is a `message' movie, with more or less the same message its illustrious predecessor had - McCarthyism is bad. Or, as the dvd jacket blurb begins, "A fictional account of the most shameful moments in American history. McCarthyism justice western style: a case of guilty by association." On the off chance that the original audience missed the connection, the chief bad guy in this one, wonderfully played by A-List heavy Dan Duryea, is named `Ned McCarthy.' Get it?
I don't have much patience for message westerns, and SILVER LODE definitely fits into the Ox-Bow Incident/High Noon continuum. I find myself drawn out of the movie too often, usually to criticize minor plot points (No judge would ever have so cavalierly allowed a shady, unidentified US Marshall extradite one of his town's citizens!) or to whine about how preachy it is.
Still, SILVER LODE boasts a strong cast, headed by Gary Coo...er, I mean John Payne as the innocent accused and B-movie queen Lizabeth Scott as his almost-bride. Duryea is, as usual, excellent and great fun to watch. SILVER LODE also contains more than its fair share of well choreographed and photographed action scenes.
A bit heavy handed, SILVER LODE is a movie with a message that borrows liberally from the mother lode of anti-McCarthyism westerns, HIGH NOON. The higher your tolerance for being preached at, the more you'll enjoy this movie.

Very fine RKO western ....and an excellent DVD.......2003-11-12

SILVER LODE may be the finest western that RKO released in the mid-1950s. With expert and taut scripting, high production values (it's one of producer Benedict Bogeaus' best), excellent direction under the veteran Allan Dwan, this little oater also has two of the best performances of its two male leads: John Payne and Dan Duryea. Payne, a veteran of numerous Westerns for Paramount [e.g., EL PASO and THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK] and Republic [e.g., THE ROAD TO DENVER], here turns in a tour de force as the innocent, but hunted and accused hero. He is very fine indeed, his lines crisply given, adding to the mounting tension. Duryea, one of Hollywood's finest "bad guys," almost outdoes Payne; Duryea is simply studpendous. The final scene between the two--in the town bell tower--is quite striking and remarkable.
Secondary starring roles are filled with some very competent Hollywood veterans---Robert Warwick, Emile Meyer as the town sheriff, Harry Carey Jr. and Alan Hale Jr. as members of Dan Duryea's "posse." Lisbeth Scott is Payne's love interest; she's does quite well.
VCI has given us a fine, clean print, and attaches the original trailer at the end, along with bios of the leading actors, all very helpful.
Silver Lode is the kind of movie that will repay watching from time to time. It is way above average as oaters go. Recommended highly both to those interested in good Western fare and, yes, to others interested simply in good cinema.

Average customer rating:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?
Beat Bogie!
Great Movie To Watch
Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began....
Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages...

To Have & Have Not
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

Bacall, Lauren | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Bogart, Humphrey | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Brennan, Walter | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Carmichael, Hoagy | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Dalio, Marcel | ( D ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Fuller, Lance | ( F ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Leonard, Sheldon | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Sande, Walter | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Seymour, Dan | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Hawks, Howard | ( H ) | Directors | VHS | Video

General | Drama | Genres | VHS | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | VHS | Video

World War II | Military & War | Genres | VHS | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | VHS | Video

Deals Under $8 | Today's Deals in Video | Features | VHS | Video

The Big Sleep
Key Largo (Snap Case)
Dark Passage (Snap Case)
The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)

ASIN: 0790743515
Release Date: 2000-03-07

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

Beat Bogie!.......2007-04-10

Great Movie To Watch.......2007-04-01

Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began...........2007-01-19

Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages..........2007-01-15

Average customer rating:

A Potpourri of every plot device you can think of
Strong and interesting movie
captivating tale
Slightly Confusing But Still Worth Seeing
Ida Has Her Hands Full

Man I Love
Starring: Ida Lupino , Robert Alda , Andrea King , Martha Vickers , and Bruce Bennett
Director: Raoul Walsh
Manufacturer: MGM (Warner)
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

General | Westerns | Genres | VHS | Video

General | Drama | Genres | VHS | Video

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | VHS | Video

Alda, Robert | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Bates, Florence | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Bennett, Bruce | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Hale, Alan | ( H ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

King, Andrea | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Lupino, Ida | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Peters, Ralph | ( P ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Ridgely, John | ( R ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Stevens, Craig | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Walsh, Raoul | ( W ) | Directors | VHS | Video

They Won't Believe ME
The Woman in the Window (MGM Film Noir)
Plunder Road
Background to Danger
Stranger on the Third Floor

ASIN: 6302946522
Release Date: 1994-03-07

Customer Reviews:

A Potpourri of every plot device you can think of.......2006-02-18

Warner Brothers had so many first rate leading actresses under contract in the forties that it was clearly hard to provide good material for them all. A number of their films mixed heavy dramatics and music. "The Man I Love" contains bits from maybe every 40's melodrama which Warners ever produced.

Ida Lupino plays a singer who visits her family and sorts out their lives. At the same time, she falls for a broken down pianist. The plot covers many cliches but the amazing thing is that Lupino holds it all together and it works. She is tough, funny, tender and emotional, one after the other. All the cast are competent. Robert Alda is much better here as a nightclub owner than in other films when he was miscast and the relationship between Lupino and sister Andrea King is very touching. The actresses show a great rapport.

Special mention must be made of Lupino's superb lip-synching to Peg La Centra's smoky voice. The opening sequence in the nightclub when the musicians jam "The Man I Love" after a late night surely was copied by George Cukor with Judy Garland in "A Star is Born". It is one of the best openings to ANY film I have ever seen.

This is a really enjoyable film.

Strong and interesting movie.......2005-01-25

I'm in agreement with the other reviews that have been posted here. One point I'd like to add to them is that the person who designed the graphic for the cassette box should be hung up by his toes and flogged. The picture makes it look like an "I Love Lucy" episode. The Ida Lupino character one tough cookie. At one point she stands up to an armed and hysterical man who's intent on shooting her companion; she shoves him against a wall and slaps him forehand and backhand until he crumples to the floor sobbing. I don't think Lucille Ball hardly ever did that. :-)

I've seen this movie described as a "noir chick film," and that's accurate. It gets a little soapy in its profusion of subplots, but overall it's a strong and interesting movie with an intriguing lead character who may change your notions of how women could be portrayed in the late '40s.

captivating tale.......2003-10-10

Ida Lupino shines in this 40s era tale of music, love, woe, and choices. Robert Alda turns in a well-honed performance as the gangster who woos but never wins Ida, a nightclub torch singer. The musical numbers are well-produced and memorable in timeless, classic fashion.

"The Man I Love" is a marvelous vehicle to display the talents of Lupino, who plays "Petie" with a blend of toughness and tenderness that will win you over. The movie is a blend also, of ordinary pot-boiler plotting and luminous, subtle touches that make it well worth seeing. Recommended!

Slightly Confusing But Still Worth Seeing.......2003-09-03

THE MAN I LOVE is hurt by having too many subplots going on at once. As a consequence the viewer is apt to get bogged down just trying to keep the various threads straight. However, there are still good reasons to see the film. Ida Lupino is superb in her role as a motherly older sister and night club torch singer. The thoroughly competent cast is another reason. It includes Robert Alda, Andrea King, Bruce Bennett, Martha Vickers and Craig Stevens.

The music by George Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Johnny Green is excellent. It may not be the best effort by director Raoul Walsh but the touch of his genius can always be felt in any of his movies.

Raoul Walsh reportedly appreciated Ida Lupino because of her no nonsense approach to acting. She never came to the set with a lot of extra agendas.

Ida Has Her Hands Full.......2003-01-03

Ida Lupino stars as a tough torch singer who comes to the aid of her family, all the while trying to deal with her own heartbreak. One sister, Andrea King, is trying to raise her son while her husband, John Ridgely, recovers from the War in a psychiatric ward. Another sister, Martha Vickers, is afraid to start dating/living life. Her brother, Warren Douglas, is working for a gangster, Robert Alda, and getting himself into tighter and tighter situations. Then there is the couple across the hall, Dolores Moran and Don McGuire, whose personal problems spill over into the family as well. And while all that is happening, Lupino embarks on a difficult romance with Bruce Bennett, a troubled pianist worn down by life. Obviously Ida has got her hands full. Lupino is very good in the central role, able to mix toughness with tenderness in a way that few actresses can. Alda is surprisingly good as the gangster who uses everyone, but can't get Ida to fall in love with him the way he has fallen for her. The rest of the cast are strong as well. I like the way director Raoul Walsh starts the film off with the great rendition of "The Man I Love", which helps to set a mood and atmosphere. The film gives the viewer a real sense of life in 1946 in Los Angeles.Walsh always paced his films well, and he keeps this film moving, giving it an edge that it needs. Watch how Ida manhandles McGuire at the end! Although the music, direction, and supporting performances are all important to the film's success, it is ultimately Ida Lupino that makes this film work.

Average customer rating:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?
Beat Bogie!
Great Movie To Watch
Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began....
Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages...

To Have and Have Not
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video (M
ProductGroup: Video
Binding: VHS Tape

Bacall, Lauren | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Bogart, Humphrey | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Brennan, Walter | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Carmichael, Hoagy | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Dalio, Marcel | ( D ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Fuller, Lance | ( F ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Leonard, Sheldon | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Sande, Walter | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Seymour, Dan | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Hawks, Howard | ( H ) | Directors | VHS | Video

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The Big Sleep
Key Largo (Snap Case)
Dark Passage (Snap Case)
The Maltese Falcon (Three-Disc Collector's Edition)
The Humphrey Bogart Collection (The Big Sleep/The Maltese Falcon/Casablanca/Key Largo)

ASIN: 6301978110

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

Beat Bogie!.......2007-04-10

Great Movie To Watch.......2007-04-01

Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began...........2007-01-19