dirac

"Funny" you mention John Simon because he is precisely who I thought of when I read "looked as if she had eaten one sugarplum too many" and "seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm". Macaulay's nothing like Simon used to be, not at all. Thank you for that anecdote, richard53dog. I did get the impression from Simon's interviews that he was enjoying himself. That said, I often liked his criticism - he had a wide range of reference culturally that you don't get in your average movie critic. But I'm wandering off topic. Space can be limited, especially for the critics who write for dailies.

I thought Macaulay's original comments were to the point and I doubt if he could have rephrased them in any way that would satisfy those who were offended. You appear onstage for the appraisal of critics and public and you take your chances. This does not excuse gratuitous cruelty of the kind which John Simon could sometimes be guilty in his criticism of performers' looks, of course, but it's absurd to say, as Ashley Bouder did in The Huffington Post, that dancers get enough criticism about their bodies elsewhere and critics shouldn't pile on. What anyone is or isn't saying to Angle or Ringer offstage is not Macaulay's concern. What appears onstage is. It is generally acknowledged that in our culture, weight and looks are more fraught issues for women than for men, and women are routinely judged more severely in this regard. This phenomenon is not limited to the dance world. (To say this is is not to say that men have no such worries, merely to point out the obvious.) Macaulay was actually being equal-opportunity in his comments, but that doesn't prevent him getting dinged for sexism anyway. But I'm inclined to think that's because people are increasingly aware of the special cultural and social pressures on women in this area and more inclined to speak out about them. Not a bad thing, even if said pressures seem to be intensifying rather than receding with time.

Way too early to tell, I'd say.

Dargis' taste is highly variable in my experience. This will be a widely reviewed film, I'm sure.

Greetings, Ed. I think Peter Graves and Nielsen were at their best in that exchange. So sad to think that they're no longer with us. Lloyd Bridges, also in Airplane! ("Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue") had a nice little second career in the Hot Shots! series. Thank you for those links, Mashinka.

Oh, absolutely, Bonnette. I would not in honesty make too many claims for Nielsen in either comedy or drama, as much as I liked him, although I agree in principle that comic performances tend to be undernominated and underawarded. Probably he was at his best in the Police Squad! TV series, which was different from the Naked Gun series in certain ways, and I'd have at least nominated him for an Emmy - I don't think he was. He certainly should have gotten a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for making people laugh. Hersholt, an uncle, would have approved, I'm sure.

I suspect Hepburn was kept on at MGM primarily because of her offscreen role in keeping him on an even keel. Her pictures without him at the studio, after The Philadelphia Story, were not much to write home about. "Ninotchka" I would rate more highly than "Silk Stockings" because it boasts a beautiful performance by Garbo to watch, which in itself redeems almost everything, and lacks the dismal "Ritz Roll and Rock." Charisse isn't awful - at least it's a role where she's supposed to be wooden -- but it's a depressing effort over all even if Porter did come through with "All of You" and it is nice to see Janis Paige get a good opportunity. I like her in it, too. I think anyone who sees it will be surprised at how good Garbo is, even though the material isn't her thing.

Hi, Bonnette, nice to hear from you. True, if we hadn't seen him in things like The Poseidon Adventure, he wouldn't have been as funny later on. Part of the humor of the original Airplane! was seeing actors like Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Nielsen playing absolutely straight in the midst of everything else going on around them.

Leslie Nielsen dies at 84. And don't call him Shirley. Lieutenant Frank Drebin subs for indisposed famous tenor Enrico Pallazzo to sing the National Anthem.

Actually, I was agreeing with yiannisfrance's point she was never box office poison, not that she was never called that. It's great that you had the time to trawl through all that stuff, though, thanks for the links. The central point was that Garbo wasn't producing bombs and hadn't turned off the public. She had grown more remote in her appeal from the (American) public, however, hence the need to try a change. I think that's true. It's true, as yiannisfrance rightly points out, that Davis played in a number of costume dramas during the same period, but she was also appearing in modern dress roles and her connection with her public was very strong. She was also in a different place in her career, just reaching her peak while Garbo had been around for awhile. She could have continued, but it wouldn't necessarily have been "easy." It definitely wasn't easy for the female stars who were able to carry on into their forties and beyond. (It's off topic, but I would differ on the "demanding and difficult" part, which is often exaggerated, and when it's accurate, has a direct connection to the part about it not being easy.)

We get to watch Natalie pleasuring herself? Pass the popcorn.

Thank you for telling us your thoughts on the book, Eileen, and I imagine your own experience is more extensive than you realize. Balanchine reportedly said, "La Danse…c’est une question morale," although your quote about behavior may be correct - it just doesn't ring any immediate bells with me. It's subject to a wide variety of interpretations.

True, but yiannisfrance makes a good point. Nobody initially thought of her retirement as permanent, and she was never box office poison. Haines, Novarro, and Gilbert were all about five plus years older than Garbo - a long time in movie star terms, but as you note she had been a star for a long time. She had an excellent run, especially for a female star. Thirty five was the danger age for women and Garbo had reached it. She and her fellow Queens of the Lot Crawford and Shearer were all gone from MGM within a few years of each other.

Nice review, Anthony, thanks for posting it.

Thank you for the review, miliosr. It sounds like fun.

Yes, I posted the Bentley review in the Links earlier. Toni B. has always had a tendency to empurpled prose, and it got the better of her this time. Thanks, Michael. Quite so. Dunno what to tell you. I can't point you to a link, but I know I've read about it and it's been evident in the magazine, at least to my eye. Such things are never a matter of editorial policy for obvious reasons. Opinions will differ.

The headline is referenced in the text, I think. I can't work up a big head of steam about this myself - "Black Swan" doesn't really seem to be a ballet film, strictly speaking, and it does have elements, such as the highly publicized hot-chicks-smooching scene, that may well be intended to pull in some straight guys. The travails of the weekly newsmagazines are well known. I kind of doubt that Newsweek's editorial attitude towards ballet, if it can be said to have ever had one, has anything to do with the magazine's decline and fall. I remember reading some pretty decent articles on the subject back when dance was considered a general interest subject worth covering and the news magazines played a bigger media role than they do now.

The headline is referenced in the text, I think. I can't work up a big head of steam about this myself - "Black Swan" doesn't really seem to be a ballet film, strictly speaking, and it does have elements, such as the highly publicized hot-chicks-smooching scene, that may well be intended to pull in some straight guys. The travails of the weekly newsmagazines are well known. I kind of doubt that Newsweek's editorial attitude towards ballet, if it can be said to have ever had one, has anything to do with the magazine's decline and fall. I remember reading some pretty decent articles on the subject back when dance was considered a general interest subject worth covering and the news magazines played a bigger media role than they do now.

[ Beside the point, I should think. The NYRB is known for having its contributors write tactful and often flattering things about each other.

Beery was certainly an actor, and I'd not call Temple or Rogers exactly freak shows. And Maximilian Schell has praised Rin Tin Tin. In Garbo's case (like Monroe's later), it's the camera. Not that either lady wasn't beautiful offstage, but it's what happens when a very few individuals - and in this sense the great movie stars are all freaks - get in camera range. Which is not to discount all the other factors involved.

I love Gary Cooper too and I think he would have been an ideal film partner for Garbo, although not for Camille. I think it was Lubitsch who said that these two were born to play together in films. Thanks, yiannisfrance. I didn't know that. I'm flattered to think that Lubitsch and I are on the same page.

No star can do everything and I would agree they wouldn't want to - or they would probably not be stars. I would not have said before watching Long Day's Journey that Hepburn could make herself into lace curtain Irish. She couldn't do that, but she could work the magic that the great actor/stars can. But I love that movie, one of the great ensemble pieces, and one of the pleasures of it is watching actors of the caliber of Hepburn and Richardson adapt to roles for which they aren't ideal. Redgrave did play Mary opposite Brian Dennehy with Philip Seymour Hoffman and she reportedly dominated the production (although I'd guess it was not least because she was playing opposite Dennehy and Hoffman). But we are wandering afield of our topic.Redgrave is too big and too hearty for Marguerite. She'd eat any Armand for breakfast, even Nureyev. Yes, we all love Garbo in "Camille"! Conventional wisdom rules!

http://en.wikipedia....own_trailer.JPG There's Coop in 1936 with Jean Arthur, but man, this guy had IT...I always see him and Garbo together and they never were; I'm sure I could figure a way to see him as Armand, even if he later told Ingrid Bergman 'why can't you just talk American?' My father and I had such a blast watching that movie together (I think it's 'Saratoga Trunk'). 'Hopelessly American' is great , because he was one of the ultimate all-Americans--looks like transplanting from Kent and Bedfordshire to Montana 'took'; even though his mom sent him back there for three years when about 10, I think. I can't believe I didn't know he was Selznick's first choice for Rhett Butler, and rejected it. Of course, I can imagine him being even better than Gable, but maybe not. Maybe he would have been esp. good in the early 'Anna Christie' with Garbo. I think that's about the time he did 'Farewell to Arms' with Helen Hayes. Speaking of "hopelessly American." There's this great scene in "Desire" where a sniffy European is sneering something like, "Zis America, et ees a beeg country," and Cooper looms over him and says "Six foot three." I think I actually started to whimper. He surely did have IT and I think he and Garbo might have made a good, if unexpected, team. Cooper and Dietrich were great together, and it's the very contrast in backgrounds and styles that works for them.

Boyer was too old by 1936, I think. Track down Olivier and offer him a second chance, or borrow Tyrone Power. The timing really is off for Power, since he didn't make his mark as a star until this year (1936) but he was a somewhat better actor than Taylor at this time (and with Garbo he would have been better still, I expect), with a superior speaking voice and a stronger presence. Gary Cooper was also too old by 1936, but it would not have been a bad part for him in his salad days. Hopelessly American, but an actor of much greater sensitivity. Philipe would be perfect.

Thanks to both of you - great posts. Has anyone else seen "Billy the Kid"?