People We Like: Anne Baxter

Another Anne! - Baxter this time. One always knew one was going to enjoy any movie that featured Anne Baxter [1923-1985] - so it proved once again yesterday idling away a rainy afternoon with another look at a re-run of De Mille's '56 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - a treat to see now, as it was a fond childhood memory. Anne seizes the part of Nefertiri and runs with it and knows exactly how to overplay it making it a camp delight. Her scenes with Moses, Rameses, Pharoah and nurse Memnet (Judith Anderson) are all worth re-seeing anytime.



Anne began as a '40s ingenue (and a grand-daughter of Frank Lloyd Wright) at 20th Century Fox, after her eye-catching role in Orson's THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS; soon she was co-starring with the likes of Ty Power (CRASH DIVE), Dana Andrews, John Hodiak (whom she married), Farley Granger and the like, in titles like NORTH STAR, THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS and with Tallulah Bankhead in A ROYAL SCANDAL. Another eye-catching role was her award-winning best supporting actress turn in '46's THE RAZOR'S EDGE (Fox's hit version of the Maugham classic, with Power, Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb etc). But by 1950 she was churning out routine westerns like A TICKET TO TOMAHAWK (which had a new blonde in the chorus, one Marilyn Monroe on her way up to being Fox's reigning star). Then came the role she is best remembered for now: the scheming Eve Harrington in Mankiewicz's evergreen ALL ABOUT EVE. (Claudette Colbert was initially cast as Margo, so Baxter's Eve could facially resemble her, but that changed once Davis was on board). She and Davis were both nominated as best actress but must have cancelled each other out by splitting the votes, so Judy Holliday won in that very deserving year (I would have given the award to Gloria Swanson for SUNSET BOULEVARD!) It is of course one of the best ensemble casts ever and that dialogue will never date.



Baxter continued in a variety of films throughout the '50s: always attractive and that voice getting huskier: in Hitchcock's I CONFESS, a circus high wire act in Germany in CARNIVAL STORY (reviewed here along with O HENRY'S FULL HOUSE at Anne Baxter label), the hit 10 COMMANDMENTS, a good '57 thriller with Richard Todd CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW, perhaps her last leading role in SUMMER OF THE 17TH DOLL in '59 in Australia (where she had moved to after a new marriage and ran a ranch there for several years, as per her interesting memoir INTERMISSION). Back in the movies parts were less - supporting turns in CIMMARON and WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and a lot of television: DR KILDARE, IRONSIDE, COLOMBO etc, and hilariously as Olga Queen of the Cossacks in several episodes of BATMAN.



History repeating: She replaced Lauren Bacall in the Broadway APPLAUSE (that musical remake of ALL ABOUT EVE) and later replaced Bette in the tv series HOTEL (well, it was work). One of her last good roles was in a Merchant-Ivory tv film JANE AUSTEN IN MANHATTAN. She died suddenly while walking down Madison Avenue in '85, but left a great legacy of work and is fondly remembered as long as the Mankiewicz or De Mille films continue to entertain us, and those Hitchcock and Welles films remain in circulation.

Other 'People We Like' soon: Gregory Peck, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Dorothy Malone, Suzanne Pleshette, Clifton Webb, George Sanders, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, Julie Christie, Susannah York, Charlotte Rampling, Jane Asher, James Fox, Stephen Boyd, Alan Bates, Laurence Harvey, Peter Finch, and Dame Flora Robson!

Anne Francis, 1930-2011

Above, Anne Francis in uncharacteristic bad girl pose. She was one of the more attractive unusual '50s starlets who had an interesting career, best known of course for her Altaira with Robby the Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET in '55, but also in BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, BATTLE CRY, DREAMBOAT and others, she was astonishingly busy - IMDB lists 167 credits of hers. In 1960 she was the air stewardess in THE CROWDED SKY, perhaps the best of those 'doomed flight' scenarios, with John Kerr who also played her pimp that year in GIRL OF THE NIGHT (already reviewed here, as per Anne Francis label). In the '60s she was HONEY WEST a now highly regarded cult tv series (rather like THE AVENGERS). I never saw it back then but have just ordered the box set. Should be a blast! Here's to Anne!

Lee Remick stills

I wrote extensively on Lee Remick back in the summer, regarding her career and meeting her in 1970 and seeing her on stage in 1976 [as per Lee Remick label]. Here though are some images from her earlier films, which are all perennial classics worth revisiting,plus a flash-forward to one of her last little-seen roles, in THE VISION with Dirk Bogarde for the BBC in '87. No wonder Jack Lemmon said she was his favourite co-star!
Above: WILD RIVER, Below: ANATOMY OF A MURDER, WILD RIVER, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, EXPERIMENT IN TERROR and BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL, and THE VISION.

Anton Walbrook, actor

A moment to remember that debonair, suave Viennese actor Anton Walbrook [1896-1967]. What an impressive legacy he left. His key role for me is of course as Boris Lermontov in Powell & Pressburger's THE RED SHOES in '48. Lermontov is the obsessive head of the dance company who puts art above everything else. We can watch him over and over in this. It was also good to catch up with his demented gambling obsessive in Dickinson's THE QUEEN OF SPADES recently, a classy revival from 1949 introducing Edith Evans as the countess with the secret of winning at cards.

Walbrook began in the 1930s in lots of Austrian and German films including the first version of VIKTOR UND VICTORIA, MICHAEL STROGOFF and as Prince Albert opposite Anna Neagle in those two Queen Victoria films VICTORIA THE GREAT and 60 GLORIOUS YEARS. He is also the evil mastermind in the first GASLIGHT and other classics like THE 49TH PARALLEL and Powell's THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP. I must catch up with Powell's OH ROSALINDA! where he stars. He later appeared in the '50s as Ludwig of Bavaria in Max Ophuls' LOLA MONTES and of course in Ophuls' LA RONDE and in I ACCUSE, and later television work including as Waldo Lydecker in a German version of LAURA!



He has a simple grave in that actors' churchyard at St Johns church in Hampstead, London, a lovely 18th century spot, just opposite Kay Kendall. It says "Anton Walbrook, Actor". How very appropriate.

French movie posters

Here, to ease us into New Year, are a selection of French movie posters, I have already written about several of these, (French label - I already did Italian, as per Italian label).