When Movies Were Good

This episode is all gladiators, chariots and epic battles in our Ben Hur (1959) and Spartacus (1960) feature. With Charlton Heston and Kirk Douglas as the leading men and the directing talents of William Wyler and Stanley Kubrick this is a fantastic Hollywood double feature.

Greer Garson is the topic of this episode. She was known for playing strong female parts and we had great joy in seeing her talents in Goodbye Mr Chips (1939) and Mrs Miniver (1942).

Orson Welles regarded him as perhaps the greatest actor ever to step in front of a camera. He was one of a handful of actors to be awarded the AFI’s Lifetime Achievement Award. James (Jimmy) Cagney was a silver screen tough guy who was as good with his dance moves as his gun toting. For Jimmy’s episode of When Movies We’re Good we talked about the early Prohibition era gangster flick The Public Enemy as well as the rhythm loaded musical Yankee Doodle Dandy.

We cannot believe we are already uploading the second Christmas special of When Movies Were Good! Thank you all for listening. We selected two well-known Christmas classics to cap off the year. The first, Meet Me in St Louis (1944), is a Technicolor marvel. Starring Judy Garland, this movie was where the staple Christmas carol 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' was introduced to the public. The second move, Miracle on 34th Street (1947), is a heart-warming tale. It is a film that has stood the test of time not only because of its great cast including a young Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn, and Maureen O'Hara, but because of a very well-executed script.

Dame Angela Lansbury is a screen legend. Most younger audiences would know Angela for playing mystery writer Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote as well as the witch in Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks. We discuss two of Angela's much earlier roles in this episode of When Movies Were Good. In The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Lansbury plays the love interest of Dorian Gray, a young and wealthy Londoner who makes a wish to stay forever young while his portrait ages for him and takes on the consequences of all his actions. Based on the novel by Oscar Wilde. In the next movie The Court Jester (1955) Lansbury is a Medieval courtier in a satirical play on the Robin Hood genre. Danny Kaye brings all his slapstick skills to good use to foil the plans of an evil usurper king.

Joan Crawford entered into pictures during the silent era and proved very early in the new age of talkies that her presence, both vocally and visually, was a force to be reckoned with. We chose two high quality Film Noirs for discussion that show Crawford at her absolute best. The first one we look at is Mildred Pierce (1945). Crawford had created a film identity for herself as a rags to riches girl throughout her career. This movie earned Crawford an Oscar for her portrayal of a struggling mother whose troubles only increase with success. Sudden Fear (1952) on the other hand, is a well-planned crime story worthy of the best mystery writers. Crawford, playing a successful playwright, does not know she has a target on her back as she lives through her apparently perfect life.

Cary Grant, it’s impossible to imagine the silver screen without him. The embodiment of all the charm of the Golden Age Hollywood. We had great fun talking about two films that Grant made his own with his fast-talking style and dapper flair. His Girl Friday (1940) is one of the perfect examples of the screwball comedy genre. Grant plays a cunning newspaper man with an eye for achieving success both with his paper and his heart. North by Northwest (1959) on the other hand is a gripping spy thriller. It is arguably one of the most famous movies ever in the careers of both Grant and director Alfred Hitchcock.

Clark Gable, a star like no other. Mr Gable is of course most well known for his portrayal of charismatic and strong-willed southern gentleman Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. We wanted to explore some of Gable’s other legendary screen performances in this episode and we chose two movies made near the beginning and end of his film career. It Happened One Night (1934) is one of only three films to ever win all five major Academy Awards; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Gable gives a fantastic performance in this pre-Code comedy. Director Frank Capra would comment later that this was the one opportunity that Gable had to truly be himself on screen. The next film Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) is a gripping submarine thriller, The Hunt for Red October of the fifties. Gable plays a submarine captain who loses his vessel in unexplained circumstances when fighting the Japanese in WWII in a section called the Bungo Straits. Determined to avenge his loss, Gable usurps Burt Lancaster as the commander of a new submarine and defies orders not to return to the dangerous section of ocean.