Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Feud (New Joan Crawford/Bette Davis Mini-Series)


Recommended Posts

On 7/2/2017 at 3:46 PM, ABT Fan said:

Many thanks for putting this up, ABT Fan - I didn't know. The portrayal of de Havilland in "Feud" is not unflattering, as I remember - Zeta-Jones seemed to be working hard at appearing refined, and the de Havilland "character" is not malicious. On the other hand I can understand why she might not appreciate seeing herself portrayed as yakking to the press about old friends and she has an interest in reminding people that she's still around to take notice of such things.

Very odd of Murphy to say that he didn't write to "Olivia" because he didn't want to be "disrespectful." How would soliciting her views on events and people she knew about be disrespectful?  I suspect he realized she wouldn''t like the series' approach, however ostensibly sympathetic.

Related.

Quote

 

“She has refused to use what she knew about the private or public lives of other actors (which was a considerable amount) to promote her own press attention and celebrity status,” a valuable aspect of her character, the suit says.

It argues that putting “false statements into a living person’s mouth and damaging their reputation is not protected by the First Amendment because the work is cloaked as fiction.

 

 

Link to comment

CZJ's portrayal of Olivia was really nothing like what Olivia actually sounded like in real life. She had a sort of continental accent and affected a grand lady air, and I've seen enough of Olivia's interviews to know that she was/is very much a tough broad in the best sense of the word.

 

But then again the whole Feud series was marred IMO by Ryan Murphy's previous work with Jessica Lange, which made the series focus almost completely on Joan Crawford and very little on Bette. All the scenes with Bette are rather by the numbers where the scenes with Joan had a richness and depth that obviously was the result of the collaboration between Lange and Murphy.

Link to comment

De Havilland is asking for an early court date:

 

Quote

Even though FX and the other defendants have yet to respond to the initial filing, a hearing on the motion filed today will be heard in Los Angeles Superior Court on September 13 in Judge Holly Kendig’s courtroom, who was assigned the case last week.  I hear that the Paris-based de Havilland will not be attending the hearing but may return  for the trial if it happens in November as her lawyers are attempting to ensure.

 

Link to comment

Given that yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the release of Flamingo Road, I certainly hope we all made sure to watch it on the day. If you're one of those poor unfortunates who doesn't own a copy, here's the trailer:

And here's the 'Joan Crawford at Warner Brothers' featurette that is on the Flamingo Road DVD:

It's short but it packs a lot of information into its running time.

Link to comment

I didn’t know, miliosr, thanks.

 I did see Crawford's Possessed  (her first, which as I'm sure you know is unrelated to her 1947 picture with the same title) for the first time on TCM not long ago. Thoroughly enjoyed that. Crawford is the girl from the wrong side of the tracks climbing up in the world, as usual. She becomes the kept woman of rich lawyer Clark Gable, who won’t marry her because he was burned so badly by his ex-wife, who cheated with the chauffeur. Push comes to shove when Gable decides to run for political office. Very satisfying denouement. It’s unusual casting in a sense because in another story Gable would have been the hot chauffeur (who is not seen here) rather than the uptight rich guy. Crawford looks beautiful and she and Gable are a sparky couple.

Link to comment

According to the 'Joan Crawford - Best of Everything site,' the US Library of Congress has named What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) to its National Film Registry. It was selected for preservation as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."  

Baby Jane joins Grand Hotel (1932), The Women (1939), Mildred Pierce (1945), and Johnny Guitar (1954) as one of five Crawford films on the Registry list.

Four decades, five films -- not a bad career longevity

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...