Send in the gowns ....

Katharine Hepburn, “Christopher Strong”, 1933 (via mothgirlwings)

There have been of course no end of iconic gowns in the movies, here are just a tiny selection - that crazy art deco insect outfit worn by the young Katharine Hepburn in CHRISTOPHER STRONG, 1933; one of Travis Banton's designs for Dietrich in SHANGHAI EXPRESS, 1932; one of Adrian's opulent costumes for the Norma Shearer MARIE ANTOINETTE in 1938; the famous Travilla gold gown for Marilyn, circa GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES; one of Edith Head's Grace Kelly outfits, REAR WINDOW 1954; Helen Rose's iconic white dress for Elizabeth Taylor in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, 1957; Sophia's wet dress in BOY ON A DOLPHIN, 1957 and one of her later ritzy head-dresses; Irene Sharaff's amazing designs for Elizabeth Taylor as CLEOPATRA, 1963 - Sharaff also did Sreisand on stage and screen in FUNNY GIRL and HELLO DOLLY, where she has some great hats; Kay Kendall in Balmain in THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE, 1958 working that feather boa; Cecil Beaton's terrific gown for GIGI, 1958, and Cecil's Regency outfits for Barbra in Brighton in ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, '69; Keira Knightley in that green gown in ATONEMENT - hardly a gown but we have to add Debra Paget's "costume" in that sizzling number dancing with the snake in Fritz Lang's 1959 double THE TIGER OF ESCHNAPUR and THE INDIAN TOMB, I really must look at that Masters of Cinema new edition...

Dana Wynter R.I.P. / Arthur Laurents

I have been meaning to write about the lovely Dana Wynter [1931-2011] so was really sad to to hear she has now passed away at almost 80. Dana has been on my radar quite a bit lately, as SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL and SINK THE BISMARCK! have been screened regularly here lately on TCM UK and Film4 channels (UK), also D DAY SIXTH OF JUNE and of course INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, and she plays nicely against type as the dipso rich girl in IN LOVE AND WAR. I have not been able to see SOMETHING OF VALUE though since I was a kid.

One of her first (silent) roles was as a fashion model parading in different outfits in the English drama IT STARTED IN PARADISE in '52, which also had the up and coming Kay Kendall. She is very sympathetic (and stylish in that naval uniform) as the only female in SINK THE BISMARCK!, 61, a nice foil to Kenneth More.



Dana was married to that Hollywood lawyer Greg Bautzer, and seems to have retired to Ireland, and she had a lengthy career in television as well. She may not have been a major star but, during that era of the '50s and '60s she was a lovely leading lady (along with the second-tier likes of Dorothy Malone, Martha Hyer, Vera Miles, Barbara Rush etc). There is that wonderful moment in Siegel's classic INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS when we realise she has changed and is now one of "them"... R.I.P. indeed. Here is my recent review of IN LOVE AND WAR:

IN LOVE AND WAR – back to 20th Century Fox and another of these Jerry Wald productions featuring their contract players (like ‘57’s NO DOWN PAYMENT). This 1958 one has regulars Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter [their 4th together?] and Bradford Dillman as the three marines having a last night of freedom in San Francisco before shipping overseas the next morning. We are told it is 1944 but what is on the screen is pure American ‘50s (just like KISS THEM FOR ME or THAT KIND OF WOMAN there seems to be no effort to get the period look right). Rich boy Dillman heads home to his disapproving father and “rich tramp” girlfriend Dana Wynter who drinks a lot – but nice nurse France Nuyen (who is from Honolulu!) is just around the corner. Hunter heads to his warm family and pregnant girlfriend Hope Lange, while Wagner has to have a few drinks before meeting his working class folks including the new stepfather he does not get on with. They all meet up at the hotel suite Wagner has reserved, but newly-weds Hunter and Lange have no place to stay … and Sheree North pops in as Wagner’s girl. Wagner’s drunken scenes through soon get rather tiresome. The second section shows us the boys in war and we wonder who will return home and who will not ... solidly directed by Philip Dunne, screenplay by Edward Anhalt, with a poignant climax.

also: R.I.P Arthur Laurents [1918-2011] - the venerable screenwriter and director also passed away aged 92, after being in the news lately over a new proposed production of GYPSY (for which he worte the book) to star Barbra Streisand, depending on which version one read either Laurents or composer Stephen Sondheim nixed the idea. Laurents also of course wrote the book for WEST SIDE STORY and the short-lived ANYONE CAN WHISTLE, screenplays for BONJOUR TRISTESSE, ANASTASIA, SUMMERTIME, Hitch's ROPE (he and Farley Granger were an item for some time), he also wrote THE WAY WE WERE and THE TURNING POINT among others, and left a very candid memoir. The best story I read was that Streisand rang him recently and he told her to call him back as he was about to have his breakfast. She did! (her first big break at 19 was in his show I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE where she was the sensational Miss Marmelstein). Certainly a legend in his own time then... even if not the most popular!

Showpeople (10): Judy's duets

I was far too young of course to see any of Judy Garland's early 60s tv shows, but a programme of duets from it makes for fascinating viewing now - and dvds are available too! Fantastic seeing the young Streisand with Judy and the obvious respect and rapport the two have for each other - and Judy with the likes of Peggy Lee and Lena Horne, Bobby Darin and young Jack Jones [below] (Michael Buble? who he? - it's reminded me I liked an album of Jones' back in the late 60s "Without Her", a nice contrast to all that Doors and Airplane stuff). There's also Judy with Ethel, Mel Torme, and of course Liza ....

I have read though the book Mel Torme (who worked on the shows) wrote on his unhappy time on the Judy show, as though settling scores with Judy, which though mean-spirited also showed how demanding she could be. But Judy looks good here - her weight see-sawed a lot then, but in '63 she looks her best, as she did in that last film from then I COULD GO ON SINGING. This has also reminded me of how different and fantastic young Barbra was then - no wonder she was the new sensation and we rushed out for those early albums of hers. I didn't have to wait too long to see her in 1966 in the London FUNNY GIRL .... touching too to see those troupers Judy and Mickey still in full flow.

And the Grammy goes to ...

Award season is in full swing in Feburary. We have already had the BAFTAs and the BRITs (the English music awards) and the Grammys this week .... now for the Oscars!



I had not seen a Grammy show before, it is not much taken notice of here in the UK - but the latest 2011 one popped up on a cable channel and it made fascinating viewing for a first time viewer ...(usually American shows like American Idol or Dance With The Stars are not viewed much here, they are on minor cable channels, as we have our own shows like X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing which the whole country watches - the US versions are somehow too glitzy for us - but the Grammys were fascinating).

Surprisingly, a lot of my old favourites turned up ... as well as the new music sounds - Lady Gaga emerging from the egg (and that very Madonna sounding "Born This Way"), the all-conquering Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Usher, the country trio (including Norah Jones and Keith Urban) doing Dolly's "Jolene" - and best of all the crazy mix of Cee Lo Green and Gwynneth Paltrow doing that version of his "Forget You".



But there were Aretha, Barbra, Mick Jagger and Dylan! I bought Bob's "Maggie's Farm" back in the '60s, bizarre to see him performing it now. Jagger can still turn it on. The Aretha tribute was nice [glad they included "Ain't No Way"] and then there was the clip of Aretha herself, much slimmed down, one trusts she is recovering (?). She has always been top of my top favourites, along with Joni Mitchell, Streisand and a few others - I have so many of the albums and singles and it was of course terrific to see her live during her two London shows in '68 and '70 (before she stopped flying) and then her later renaissance in the 80s and 90s.



Barbra and Kristofferson re-united (don't mention their 1976 film to me ... I hate it) were interesting too. Is it really 45 years since I saw her on the stage in FUNNY GIRL in 1966? Will we ever see Joni in public or performing again? We will though all be glitzed (or glazed) out by the end of the current awards season.

Showpeople (8): Troupers

Whether climbing the ladder of success or basking at the top today's selection of showpeople show how it is done:

Hedda with a starlet / Rock, Tony and RJ Wagner circa '57? / Marlene and Noel in 1959 and Judy and Mickey in '63 are the very essence of show-biz troupers / Kay and Rex in '57 / and young Barbra (with Michael Craig) getting into her stride as Fanny Brice in the London run of FUNNY GIRL in 1966 (I saw that from the front row). Omar got the movie gig though!, and speaking of troupers, here (for TJB) is Susan Hayward as MAME at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas - wish I could have seen that!:

People We Like: Michael Craig

England’s forgotten leading man? Decades before Daniel there was another Craig – that personable leading man Michael Craig – who had a good career in English movies of the ’50s and early ‘60s. His biography illustrates the chequered careers people had back then. Born in India (where his father was in the army) in 1928 and moved to Canada when aged 3 he was back in England by the late 40s and working in the theatre. He secured a Rank Organisation contract and began a good run in movies initially being groomed as a new Dirk Bogarde – Craig plays support to Bogarde in the 1957 CAMPBELL’S KINGDOM.

Other roles of the time included EYEWITNESS, HIGH TIDE AT NOON, a good war adventure SEA OF SAND in 1958, the faithless lover who gets a bullet in YIELD TO THE NIGHT, a tense crime thriller PAYROLL, a Police inspector in the thriller SAPPHIRE, THE SILENT ENEMY, with Belinda Lee in the African romance NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT, plus studio fodder like LIFE IN EMERGENCY WARD 10 and the quite funny UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS (where he has a very funny sequence with Joan Sims), and an airport drama CONE OF SILENCE.

He co-wrote THE ANGRY SILENCE in 1960, one of those strong dramas of the time. co-starring with Attenborough, and MYSTERIOUS ISLAND with Joan Greenwood is a jolly good 1961 version of the Jules Verne classic which still gets played a lot today. There were other leading roles like stepping into Bogarde’s shoes for DOCTOR IN LOVE, and another good drama LIFE FOR RUTH in 1962.

Craig also did a lot of television and theatre (left), and a good leading role was opposite Susan Hayward in STOLEN HOURS in ’63, and co-starring with Claudia Cardinale (who had a small part in his UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS) in Visconti’s intense drama SANDRA (or OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS or VAGHE STELLE DELL ORSA) in 1965 [which I have already written about here, as it was a pleasure to finally see it again recently]. He co-starrred in LIFE AT THE TOP and had a supporting role in Losey’s MODESTY BLAISE where he is fun trying to unzip Monica Vitti in that cat suit!

With Cardinale and Jean Sorel in Visconti's SANDRA (OF A THOUSAND DELIGHTS) in 1965:


Then a prize leading stage role which I saw in 1966 (when I was new in London): opposite that new star Barbra Streisand in the London production of FUNNY GIRL – where he is an ideal Nicky Arnstein. His programme page is below (click to enlarge):



He then went on work with Julie Andrews as one of her suitors in STAR!, that 1968 box office disaster which was enjoyable for all the wrong reasons. He was in the film of that great stage play I enjoyed at the OId Vic: THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN in 1969 and lots more television roles including that laughable series TRIANGLE which really was so bad it was good and had a cult following! but working actors keep working: Losey and Visconti one year, an Amicus horror compendium the next; there was of course that new crowd to compete with - Alan Bates seemed to be getting all the choice parts... [Bogarde, More, Todd etc were all in the same boat, with Dirk heading off to Europe.]

Australia beckoned for Craig with movies like THE IRISHMAN in 1978. Michael still resides there and is more or less retired now but still works in items like MARY BRYANT in 2005.

Most personable young actors starting out get 10 good years if they are lucky and then continue in lesser parts, and Michael certainly had a decent career at that interesting time from the mid-‘50s to the mid-‘60s working with a lot of my favourite people. It's always a pleasure to see him. Below: STOLEN HOURS with Hayward.

Next: Claire Bloom, Julie Harris, Glynis Johns, Flora Robson, Billie Whitelaw, Trevor Howard, Anita Ekberg, Stephen Boyd, Alan Bates, Peter Finch, maybe even Laurence Harvey.
Previous: David Hemmings, Stewart Granger, Michael Redgrave, Genevieve Bujold, Kay Kendall, Joan Greenwood, Gladys Cooper, Capucine, Romy Schneider, Anouk Aimee, Francoise Dorleac, Lilli Palmer, Alida Valli, Silvana Mangano, Ingrid Thulin, Stanley Baker, Belinda Lee, Dolores Gray, Janet Leigh, Jeffrey Hunter, Jean Sorel, Vittorio De Sica etc. as per labels.