Old Movies and Favorite Books
Comments
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This thread is to discuss old movies (1930-1960) and favorite books, including those we loved when we were children.
I found myself talking about movies on the political thread and didn't want to divert it from its purpose of knock down, drag out discussions about the current elections, so decided to start this thread. Everyone is welcome. It doesn't much matter if you discuss movies after 1960--who can remember dates, but it's essentially devoted to older movies, movie stars, great lines in film, interesting facts, and books we all loved as children.
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My first contribution is about "His Girl Friday" with Gary Grant and Rosalind Russell. I love Grant in the old comedies before he became Mr. Sophistication. This is my favorite but I also love the movies he made with Irene Dunne, particularly "My Favorite Wife."
Anyway, the other night (on TCM), my husband and I were watching "His Girl Friday" and discovered that "You talking to me" from DeNero in Taxi Driver wasn't original to that film. Gary Grant says it near the end of the movie when he's cornered trying to smuggle a convicted murderer out of the press room in the city courthouse. It's almost exactly the same as DeNero, including the gesture with his hand. It goes to prove the old adage--there's nothing new in this world. If you don't know the film and you love comedies, I highly recommend it.
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I have to go later than 1960 for movies...my favorite movie of all time is The Way We Were...I LOVE Redford and Striesand in this movie. It is so obvious they love each other even though it doesn't work out. I LOVE the ending when he runs into her in New York on the street and she is still at it...again, it is so obvious he loves her and her him.
Book? Hmmmmmmmm, that is a hard one, I have many favorite authors, I will have to think about this one! And then catagories...hard one!
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OMG, this will be such fun! I'm sure I'll contribute at least 100 posts and you'll be sick of me.
Thirties and forties movies are the best! I remember occasionally staying home sick from school as a child and watching the "old movies" on TV in the afternoon. LOL And this was during the early 50's!
First, I have to say that it wouldn't be Christmas for me without Christmas in Connecticut (1945). Oh, I like Barbara Stanwyck alright but it's the house that grabs me. Oh, and the horse-drawn sleigh pulling up out front. And Uncle Felix: "Everything's hunkey-dunkey." Oh, I am feeling so good just thinking about it. It's emotional pablum. Watch it even if it's not Christmas to learn about "the old Magoo."
Books? Have you ever read "I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith? Published in 1948. You can read parts on some internet sites. Dodie also wrote "101 Dalmations."
Tina
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Books, I love Richard Bach so I will say Illusions is one of my all time favorite books and then Florence Scovil Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It.
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"Sorry, Wrong Number"
"Singin' in the Rain"
"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane"
"Double Indemnity"... OMG I could go on and on and on!
My favorite books at the moment are 2 I just read by the author Jasper Fforde. The Nursery Crime Division's Official Website"The Fourth Bear" and "The Big Over Easy"
I can't wait for him to write another!
Hugs
Erica
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My favorite book of all time: Jane Eyre
Favorite movie: The Grass Harp
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What fun! Not a big movie fan, but you're really taking me back as far as books. . .
The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame ("Ratty, please! I want to row!")
Little Women, Little Men, and Jo's Boys, by L. M. Alcott
Little House books by L. I. Wilder
All the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books. I also liked the Cherry Ames stories but never could find all of them.
Encyclopedia Brown stories (boy detective). I wasn't much on the Hardy Boys, though.
The Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little, by E. B. White. I liked Charlotte's Web but not as much.
The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by F. H. Burnett. I always wanted to be Sara Crewe (before her father died, of course).
Anything and everything by Madeleine L'Engle
These aren't really kids' books, but one summer when I was about 13 or 14 I read all the Jean Plaidy historical novels that our library had and loved them.
And now a question for all you readers: I remember reading, when I was little, a couple of books about some kids and their teacher. The teacher's name was Mrs. Dextrose-Chesapeake. The one scene I remember from the books was that one day the kids went over to Mrs. D-C's house with a bed-making machine they had invented. They made her up in her bed so they wouldn't have to have school that day.
I can't remember the names of the books or the author, and I haven't been able to find anything about them or anyone else who remembers them, though I've looked hard! Does anybody else remember this character or these stories? I probably read them sometime between 1970-1973.
Thanks for starting this--lots of good memories. I may have to dig out some of these books and re-read them!
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Lucky, the Mary Nash books? about Mrs. Coverlet?
Tina
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Lots of books here that I never read. I hope I can read at least some of them. I too love "Jane Eyre" and reread it every few years. My favorite writer, as an adult, is Jane Austen, and I reread all her books every few years.
I loved "Little Women," and love the movie version with Katherine Hepburn.
And I read every Nancy Drew books; also the Carolyn Keane mysteries--can't remember names of sisters, and Cherry Ames, but not as much as Drew. I some times think my sister went into nursing because of Cherry.
"Double Indemnity" great movie. Remind me about "Sorry, Wrong Number." it's coming back, but not quite.
Maybe we should all pick a book and hold a book club on line--any thoughts!
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I'm with Paulette on The Way We Were ("Your girl is lovely, Hubble"
). But also love the old Busby Berkely musicals, especially the ones with Ruby Keeler. My favorite is 42nd Street. Another great old flick is Topper....I never fail to laugh my a$$ off every time I watch it! Then, of course, there's the Wizard of Oz. I've actually been watching it over & over this weekend on TV!Books....yes to ALL of the Nancy Drew books (wearing "frocks" and driving a "roadster")! A Little Princess, The Secret Garden and the Caddie Woodlawn series, not to mention Little House on the Prarie (way before the TV show). As an adult, I'd have to say that nothing has yet rivaled Wuthering Heights for me!
Great thread, anneshirley!
~Marin
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Marin...remember when Hubble and Katy were breaking up and Hubble and his best friend (that was married to the blonde that Hubble had just messed around with) were out on the sailboat and his friend said "now losing Katy, that would be something"...gives me the chills! One weekend I watched that movie so many times over and over...it was unbelievable!
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I read Wuthering Heights one day when home from school in the seventh grade and loved it. I realized so many years later, probably was in my 20's, how much I had missed. My mother kept asking me what I was reading, and I said a book for school. It's a very sexual novel but when you're twelve you don't really know what you're reading. In later years, I came to prefer the story of young Cathy and Hareton (sp) to that of Heathcliff and Cathy.
I always loved the Topper movies, probably because I've always loved Cary Grant.
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OMG...On books, how could I have forgotten...F. Scott Fitzgerald, LOVE LOVE LOVE him! I have all his books, some of them two copies! The Great Gatsby...This Side of Paradise...LOVE IT!
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This is positively addictive!
How about The Thin Man series with William Powell and Myrna Loy? They are a hoot!
I lived not far from a charity thrift shop when I was a kid and they had a wonderful book section. I spent many an afternoon going through books and collecting tons. Not only did I have all the "early" Nancy Drews, but also Dana Girls, Cherry Ames (yes, I went to nursing school because of Cherry), Judy Bolton, Trixie Belden, Donna Parker, even Beverly Gray. I think I even had a Kay Tracy. Then, I had some of the "movie star" mysteries, like Jane Withers. These books were my friends and companions.
One day, in my early 20's, I came home to find that my mother had given all my mysteries away to a neighborhood nose-picker. This still rankles me to this day.
Does anyone remember that film noir with Lucille Ball, before she hit it big as a comedienne? I think it was The Dark Corner. You've gotta rent this one from netflix.
BTW, I've collected some old Nancy Drews in my dotage. It really pleases me to see them up on the bookshelf. I also have read a number of studies of Nancy Drew and it's very interesting how the character changed through the different re-writes. IMO, forget anything (Nancy Drew books) written after the early 60's. Way too "modern" for me. LOL I like the old stuff. And, yes, one of my friends teases me about my "frocks."
Tina
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Lucky32, though out of print, Mrs. Coverlet's Detectives by Mary Nash, Garrett W. Price (The three Persever children go to New York hoping to find Mrs. Dextrose-Chesapeake's valuable tortoise shell cat that disappeared after the cat show.)is available online, as Tina said above.
I love old Cary Grant movies. Cary can be doing comedy or Hitchcock - it's all good. I think one of my favorites is It Takes a Thief with Grace Kelly. Books? A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Soldier of the Great War or as a child, certainly A Little Princess, The 21 Balloons,every biography in my school and neighborhood libraries, the All-of-a-Kind Family books, I even read a lot of history. I started reading Tolkein at 12 and those were very influential. At this time of year we always read The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes - a wonderful, magical Easter tale with a healthy, independent feminist spin - first published in 1939!
Lisa
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One movie I can watch over and over and never tire of is "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." It's the one that started my love affair with Robert Redford too many years ago. (He looks so old now! I'm glad I don't!ha!)
And an all-time favorite book from my childhood is "Mrs. Mike" by Benedict and Nancy Freedman. As well as the best ever book, "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
Anne
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Anneshirley, oh my, I have never met anyone who read the Cherry Ames book til you!! My Aunt Betty bought me the whole set and I read every single one. Oh, I loved those books....oh and Tina, you read them too. So cool.
I have many favorite movies but one of the top ones is "Wuthering Heights". When I was a kid , my friend and I would watch it everytime it was on and practically go through a whole box of tissues! I always watch the old time movies on TCM and my mom calls me and tells me when the good ones are on (she is soon to be 80). She will tell me who the actors are in case I don't know.
Books....I like to read autobiographies...biographies only if they are authorized. Anneshirley, a book club sounds cool. Glad this thread was started.
Hugs and prayers and Happy Easter,
Candie
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Book Club,
Anyone who's interested, sign up here. I suggest we only start if we have ten interested members. I also thought rather than reading something new, that we revisit a classic, like Jane Eyre, Wurthing Heights, Tender is the Night, Little Women (if we need a good cry). We could vote. Each month, we can have a different thread, open for three weeks until we start the next, so we don't get them mixed up. We can keep this thread open for general comments on books. I was surprised that so many people visited today, so it appears lots of us are interested in discussing movies and books.
A book I very much love is George Eliot's "Middlemarch," altough it's very long. I'd throw that one in too.
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OMG, I love George Eliot! Did you know that when she was in her 50s, she married a man in his 20s? And never looked back! She was a REAL BABE!!!
OK, ahem. I also read Cherry Ames, but there were already too many nurses in my family and, besides, I wanted to really aggravate my father so I became a social worker (he called me a "bleeding-heart liberal" and it just made my toes curl with delight
!).And Paulette, I ALSO love F. Scott (not to mention beautiful, loony Zelda!)! As for best scenes/quotes from TWWW....how about when Katy says...."I WAAAANT" during one of their pre-breakup scenes? Now that gives me chills!
I couldn't ever keep up with a book club, but I hope that you all do it because I'll love reading your posts and discussions!
~Marin
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Some of the older books are online and free for download at the Guttenberg project. Here is the link to download Jane Eyre.
Some are even availabe as audiobooks that you can download to your IPOD or mp3 player.
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Lucky (Hiiiii!) and I can't believe you remember Trixie Belden! I loved those!
Anneshirley - Sorry, Wrong Number is about a rich bedridden woman (Barbara Stanwyck) who marries a guy from the wrong side of the tracks (Burt Lancaster). She's in bed and overhears a phone conversation where 2 guys are talking about killing a woman. She calls the police then over the course of the night she receives odd phone calls that lead her to believe that the intended victim is her.
I love love love film noir so if anyone has a favorite I will totally add it to my netflix.
Oh another, really obscure movie is called The Honeymoon killers. It's based upon a true story and it's really interesting. It's very gritty and cheaply shot and sort of has a "Psycho" vibe in some aspects, but I think it's fantastic. Odd and fantastic. It was done in 1970, but it looks older!
And another... Geez, I am addicted to this thread! LOL
Arsenic & Old Lace w/ Cary Grant. Those old ladies are so cute!
And another - You'll Find Out. Obscure movie with bandleader Kay Kyser and his band. They go to play a party at a creepy house and become stranded there with a bunch of guests and weirdos. Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre are in it. It's along the lines of Abbott & Costello meet the Wolfman kind of comedy.
Ebert out!
Erica -
I remember now. Great movie. Don't remember the ending but don't tell me, as I'll order it from Netflick.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a great Gary Grant movie. Do you know "The Lady Killers." Very funny English movie, with lots of the great ones, including Peter Sellers, when he was just starting out. Or "King Hearts and Coronets" where Alex Guiness plays seven or eight parts.
And who here watches the orignal "The Christmas Carol" every Christmas Eve, the one in which Alstair Sim plays Scrooge. Made in the 1950's.
Oh, and love the original Pink Panther movie and some of the others. DH and I sit around at times trading lines from his films. "Is this your minkey?" Another great line--Sellers goes to door walking on his knees, where a man hands him a bomb. Still on his knees, he looks in his pants for a tip, can't find any money, and says to the delivery guy "I'm a litte short."
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Anyone remember reading about The Bobbsey Twins? Bert and Nan and Flossie and Freddie. Maybe because I'm a twin myself, but I LOVED those books growing up. Pssst, I'm not that old, they belonged to my parents first. :-)
As for old movies, I used to watch old war movies, The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The War Lover. Now I can't stand them, go figure.
I do like It's a Wonderful Life, Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation, With Six You Get Eggroll, Your's Mine and Our's, Spencer's Mountain to name a few.
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Oh, Abbott & Costello's Hold That Ghost! Very funny! And has anyone seen Harvey, with Jimmy Stewart? He plays a kind of crazy guy who lives with his older sister. He spends time at the local bar accompanied by Harvey, a giant "pookah" rabbit, and only he can see him. It's hilarious!
Sorry, Wrong Number reminds me of Rear Window...also a good one!
Yes, Terry, I loved The Bobbsey Twins...Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie!
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Oh, yes, AnneW - definitely Mrs Mike was a favorite from my childhood! I still have it on my shelf!
BOOKCLUB : I'm in - and the classics are far preferred over much of the new stuff. I can start anytime. I read about 1000pgs/week.
Lisa
ps - anneshirley - Alistair Sim, every Christmas!
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I saw the remake of "The Ladykillers" with Tom Hanks (I think) and liked it. I didn't know it was a remake until one day I found the original on tv and watched it. Really liked both!
My hubby's favorite movie is "It's a Wonderful Life." Every year I roll my eyes at the thought of watching it and every year I am crying like a baby at the end! LOL
"With 6 you get Eggroll" made me think of another cute movie. "Move Over Darling" with Doris Day and James Garner. She's the wife and has been lost at sea. He remarries and takes the new wife to the same hotel he honeymooned with Doris. Well lo and behold, Doris pops up and he has to juggle two women. It's so cute!
(Oh and Christmas in our house is a little unconventional. Other than the IAWL that my hubby HAS to watch, our "traditional movie" is "Bad Santa." We are sooooo going to hell!
Erica
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Oh and I would totally do a book club, but I have to clear out the books I've got first! Once I get that done, I'm in!
Erica
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I'll do a book club!
Favorite books?
Gone with the Wind (so much better than the movie, but aren't they all?)
Rebecca (Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again)
The Stand (Stephen King - scariest thing ever)
Movies:
Poppy and I had a lot of the same,
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Singin' in the Rain,
and then this movie was done after the 60's The Great Gatsby. I know you guys listed it as a book you liked, but it took watching the movie for it to really come alive for me. I even named my cream colored VW bug convertible "Gatsby" lol It just looks like a car from that era when the top is down.
Book Club Book Club!
Watson
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Poppy,
Any Doris Day movie is a hit with me! In fact I might have a bit of OCD about certain movies. Example: Whenever I flip around and see a Doris Day movie, Dirty Dancing, Urban Cowboy, Grease or Coal Miners Daughter on TV, I HAVE to stop and watch. Dinner burning? Late for an appt? Too Bad!
And I have been known to call in sick to work if in the middle of a good book. I don't know how to set them down. I read 24/7 until finished or I go into a coma whichever comes first. lol
Watson
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