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litlover12Notice a pattern here? Yesterday our featured actors included Grant, Stewart, Bergman, and Rains; today our featured actors include Grant, Stewart, Bergman, and Rains.
But today Grant and Stewart are in different movies, each with Rains as supporting actor. Which is a nice arrangement, because when you're not swooning over either Cary or Jimmy, you can be swooning over Claude. (Ohhh, Claude . . . )
4. Notorious (1946; dir. Alfred Hitchcock; starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains)
Only Hitchcock could give us a romance this twisted . . . and make it this romantic. Bergman loves Grant, but is forced to marry the Nazi she's been spying on. And Grant never really believed she loved him in the first place, even though the two of them have such sizzle that they nearly melt the screen. Throw in the most evil mother-in-law of all time -- a brilliant performance by Leopoldine Konstantin -- and you've got quite a mess. As for how it all turns out . . . well, let's just say I've been known to rewind and rewatch the ending two or three times in a sitting.
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939; dir. Frank Capra; starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains)
It's difficult to think of another actor who could have played Jefferson Smith, naive Senator-turned-crusader, so beautifully. Stewart is heartbreaking as he faces the truth about corruption in Congress -- and corruption in the soul of his father's best friend, the man he's looked up to his whole life. And when he rises up to fight that corruption, knowing it might cost him everything, he's breathtaking. The filibuster sequence is still one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen -- not just in a movie, but anywhere.
Frank Capra was no Pollyanna, as some would have it; he knew that darkness existed, and he showed it. (Showed it so unflinchingly, in fact, that many members of Congress were up in arms when this movie came out. Nothing new under the sun, is there?) What sets him apart from so many is that he also believed in light. It was showing the brilliance of the light against the darkness that was his gift, and I'm not sure any other director has ever matched him in that respect.
Tomorrow, the big finish!
But today Grant and Stewart are in different movies, each with Rains as supporting actor. Which is a nice arrangement, because when you're not swooning over either Cary or Jimmy, you can be swooning over Claude. (Ohhh, Claude . . . )
4. Notorious (1946; dir. Alfred Hitchcock; starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains)
Only Hitchcock could give us a romance this twisted . . . and make it this romantic. Bergman loves Grant, but is forced to marry the Nazi she's been spying on. And Grant never really believed she loved him in the first place, even though the two of them have such sizzle that they nearly melt the screen. Throw in the most evil mother-in-law of all time -- a brilliant performance by Leopoldine Konstantin -- and you've got quite a mess. As for how it all turns out . . . well, let's just say I've been known to rewind and rewatch the ending two or three times in a sitting.
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939; dir. Frank Capra; starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains)
It's difficult to think of another actor who could have played Jefferson Smith, naive Senator-turned-crusader, so beautifully. Stewart is heartbreaking as he faces the truth about corruption in Congress -- and corruption in the soul of his father's best friend, the man he's looked up to his whole life. And when he rises up to fight that corruption, knowing it might cost him everything, he's breathtaking. The filibuster sequence is still one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen -- not just in a movie, but anywhere.
Frank Capra was no Pollyanna, as some would have it; he knew that darkness existed, and he showed it. (Showed it so unflinchingly, in fact, that many members of Congress were up in arms when this movie came out. Nothing new under the sun, is there?) What sets him apart from so many is that he also believed in light. It was showing the brilliance of the light against the darkness that was his gift, and I'm not sure any other director has ever matched him in that respect.
Tomorrow, the big finish!
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 04:40 am (UTC)Wow. And I thought my love life was bad. *g*
***
Oh, I had to go back and read my own post. What a lovely movie!
http://mosinging1986.livejournal.com/1715133.html
no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-02 06:44 am (UTC)