dirac

There's really not much to add to the excellent comments above – Garbo's Marguerite is one of the great screen portrayals. There are so many grace notes it would be tedious to list them, but in addition to those mentioned above I would add the way her eyes flicker open at the moment of death and then close, an effective reversal of customary movie practice. She triumphs over Lionel Barrymore's ham and the fields of fake flowers, and Henry Daniell is perhaps her best acting partner since J. Barrymore in Grand Hotel. He has the style to match her and also conveys the human pain behind the Baron's jealousy and cruelty. Wonderful performance. I'm indifferent to Robert Taylor's brand of pretty but his amateurishness doesn't come close to sinking the movie until the second half, where he simply cannot navigate the emotions required of him. Adrian takes advantage of the period to show off Garbo's noble head and eloquent neck and her broad shoulders, and within the limitations allowed by the censorship Cukor creates a very convincing demimonde. I love this movie, for the most part.

The movie almost seems set up to make the Soviet Union look good, doesn’t it? Rather than envying Westerners their liberties, the Soviet envoys ogle their consumer goods and chambermaids. Ninotchka isn’t a real woman until she abandons her unfeminine interest in engineering and focuses on accessories, and her female rival has nothing on her mind except her tiara. Ninotchka is severe but she has ideals and a commitment to her country. On the other hand, Garbo also shows us clearly what Nina's dedication has cost her in emotional deprivation, one of the finer aspects of her performance. Having said that, the movie is well done even if the second half disappoints, I like Melvyn Douglas better than you do, and Garbo makes the softening and blooming of Ninotchka into a woman in love remarkably tender and moving.

Hello, Hannahbella. Thank you so much for posting. Fair points. Also a good point.

Thanks for posting, Kathleen. There is a pre-existing thread on Franzen (a short one) and I cross posted your comment in the hope that it will spark discussion there.

Kathleen O'Connell wrote in another thread:

I've heard wonderful things about that book, LiLing. Makes me reflect on what a very different time we live in. Now music from almost anywhere on the globe is literally at our fingertips, but there was a time when if you wanted to hear Balinese music you had to go to Bali.

Yes. I just wanted to make the point that her range and her father's training were broader than that. The two names that come up most frequently in reports of Astaire's private comments on the subject are Hayworth and Barrie Chase.

Hi. canbelto.I'd say Hayworth's dancing skills were considerably broader than "sexy Latino" might suggest. Hayworth made an early marriage with her manager/agent, not unusual for an actress, and Orson Welles and Aly Khan looked good on paper at the time. Aly's first marriage lasted over a decade. Dick Haymes, well..... Hayworth liked "Cover Girl" in retrospect, too. She wasn't exactly unnoticeable without makeup - in casual photos she still looks incredible, a true beauty -- so if she wasn't recognized I expect it was because she didn't want to be. I saw a photo of her with Aly Khan when she was heavily pregnant and with a minimum of makeup she looked exactly as glowing as pregnant women are supposed to look and hardly ever do. It should have been a charmed life, but it wasn't. Fortunately, she left us a legacy of her grace and beauty. "Tonight and Every Night" isn't much of a movie but she does a wonderful samba number in it.

I agree, ballet_n00b. Except for the glove strip I don't have much use for the movie. I find the sexual double standard and the misogyny deeply oppressive, and I don't like to see a goddess like Rita get kicked around and kick herself around. I like Cover Girl a lot. I tend to prefer You Were Never Lovelier to You'll Never Get Rich, but they're both good, although unfortunately Columbia wouldn't spend the extra cash to shoot them in color. In her later years those were the movies Hayworth spoke of wit hmost affection. I have mixed feelings about The Lady from Shanghai but you do come away feeling that you've seen something.

Thanks for the link. Please tell us about the performance when you see it!

True,cubanmiamiboy, she’s very effective in Laura (although unconvincing as a career woman IMO, and she doesn’t show the kind of intellectual spark that might draw a man like Lydecker). I’m not talking about steaminess, but “projection” is close to what I mean; Tierney never shows me much. I would never expect the range of a Streep or a Davis, but I’d like more fire and conviction. She’s certainly beautiful, particularly in black and white. And in the mid forties she had a great run, making a number of movies worth checking out. As for the title tune, you can't beat Spike Jones' version.

Thanks for posting, cubanmiamiboy. "Laura" is good fun and endlessly rewatchable. I have a soft spot for Dana Andrews, a somewhat underrated performer, and I like Bonnie Cashin's career-girl outfits for Tierney. The supporting cast are terrific. I'm not sure how long Laura's and McPherson's "disgustingly earthy" relationship lasted after the end titles, though. Tierney never did really project much of anything that I could see. Lovely, an agreeable presence, but not capable of much beyond that, even in more hotblooded pieces like Leave Her to Heaven and The Shanghai Gesture. I always liked her for her refusal to fix her overbite despite studio entreaties. She developed a nice line in Mona Lisa smiles.

Should be interesting, MakarovaFan, and thank you for posting the news. Jacobi's Macbeth some time ago was none too well received, but he's had success with Prospero, I think, which may be good prep for Lear. The Donmar is smallish, so those who are able to attend in person will get a more intimate Lear than even theatergoers often see.

Thanks for the heads up, PeggyR.

Thanks for posting, Helene. Sorry to hear this. Maybe not the world's most charismatic actor, but a very nice guy to have in your living room. As the obit mentions, MacArthur was the adopted son of two legends of the American theater, Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur (here, from James’ website, is a nice bio and tribute to his father, a gifted man who took to drink).

Gee, I was looking forward to talking about Camille....

A review of Norman Lebrecht's new book by Philip Kennicott in The New Republic. Mahler does excite strong feelings for and against. What do BTers think?

Yes, these links are most persuasive, if not in the manner perhaps intended.

I've read in long ago interviews with a couple of her partners that said that one ballerina that was not easy to partner was Markova. She was very reluctant to give that little "push off" keeping the illusion for herself of weighlessness. Apparently Gelsey Kirkland was the same way. I remember La Fosse saying as much in his book.

It's funny how speech patterns are affected by the era, style, recording equipment, etc. In the very early talkie days the dialogue was sloooowww - as if no one was quite sure how this dialogue thing was supposed to go.

Well, you know how it is with those crazed Commie sympathizers who run PBS. Interesting website. The home page is certainly worth checking out.

Interesting idea, MakarovaFan. Yes, poor Consuelo's story was certainly dramatic. The gilded clothing of the gilded age might present challenges, but none that couldn't be overcome, I'd think.

Not wildly accurate, either...... Here's an article with more details. There may be less here than meets the eye. We'll see. The article mentions that the archive of Austen's original manuscripts is now online and provides a link. Other thoughts?

Thanks for posting this, bart. As others have noted already, most writers, even the very greatest, need an editor. We have only Sutherland's opinion, and Sutherland's opinion could be wrong. (Austen's personal letters sound like Austen, as I remember.) Sutherland seems to be hinting that we may have a LIsh-Carver situation on our hands, which would go beyond mere editing. I would reserve judgment, given the paucity of information in the article. In the very greatest novels, style, form, and observation are close to indissoluble, so if Austen had nothing to do with Austen's style - well, yes, that's a big deal.