seriously, where is Norma Shearer & Joan Crawford????? (1 Viewer)

[WadeM]

Aahhhh.. who would have guessed? And with Clark Gable too.

I have to say I'm 30 years old and watch classic movies almost exclusively anymore. I used to go to the movies almost every week or 2, but something horrible has happened to Hollywood. I think I've seen only 1 decent modern movie in the last 2 years, and not that many more for this century. I've more or less given up on going to the local theater anymore for new movies. Give me the classics any day that have stood the test of time.

Bring on more Crawford & Shearer! Although, I agree, time hasn't been kind to Shearer's name. It's been more kind to Harlow & Dietrich.

 

[bobraleigh]

i was born in '70 and love old movies, usually no one knows who i'm talking about unless it's bette davis or joan crawford, and then if only referencing mommie dearest.

i really felt old the other day at work when i mentioned ann-margaret and no one knew who i was talking about! i'm sure mentioning margaret o'brien would have been pointless.

 

[Bill Burns]

I'll enthusiastically second a request for a Norma Shearer Collection on DVD. As she has many films I adore, I'd prefer it be a large set, like the Garbo Collection, comprised of both silent and sound (and while we're at it, a second Garbo set would be greeted eagerly, as well), as has been suggested in comments here and elsewhere.

I could go on for pages about why Norma Shearer is one of the most beautiful and human actresses of her era. Despite her reputation for a broad, theatrical style, she is, in fact, an actress of both range and nuance, the grandest dame with the most commanding presence in one scene, a church mouse in another, but her fire and soul rich in each (Let Us Be Gay, from 1930, is an exemplary embodiment of this range). Her love for the theatrical makes her playful and approachable; her mastery of emotion in movement and glance makes her personal and timeless. She can break my heart faster than any actress working today.

The picture that jumps to mind at the moment is Their Own Desire, a 1929 melodrama that I find wonderfully affecting. I've seen that a couple of times on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), and it's one to keep on eye on the trusty TV Guide to catch when next it plays. The scenes when she first discovers her father's infidelity, that one beloved parent has willfully wounded the other, are hypnotic in their heart and passion, hypnotic as any deep emoting, any great acting, should be. When the hardness of that lesson threatens her own later romance, I'm on tenterhooks – she catches me up in every exclamation. She's magnificent. And as a great admirer of Robert Montgomery, a man who was one of the most affable in early sound, the film's all the more exciting. Lewis Stone as aviator, hunting for his lost daughter, is unforgettable and heartwarming. It's a sweet image, even as his search is frantic. And her final scenes … I might cry right now. This is a lovely picture.

The Divorcee is credited with beginning the Pre-Code Hollywood era, the span of years TCM and Warner will be celebrating in their new TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood line. As they mention it in their press release, I hope it'll come to DVD before too long.

But the standard-bearer of 1930's melodrama at MGM is A Free Soul. I can never get enough of Lionel Barrymore. The man embodies character acting for me – villain or hero, focus or periphery, he’s always the performance champion to my eye and ear, always the reason to watch a picture so blessed as to include him in its cast, and I just love his infamous hand-wringing. But his eloquence, his love of a floral phrase … if only every actor could both so enchant and convince with a few well-delivered words. His is that most grandfatherly and warm voice, the perfect teller of stories, the perfect instrument of an actor. His inflections and emotion are embodiments of vocal craftsmanship, never so poised or blatantly deliberate as to seem rehearsed, always wholly genuine, but also so precise that they both compel and delight. Some might call his style theatrical, again, like Ms. Shearer, but there’s a fine craft to this sort of theatrics, and none on film do it so well as these, who play together beautifully in this story of father and daughter.

I'll stake my ground: the most moving oration in 1930's cinema can be found in A Free Soul, and it's delivered by Lionel Barrymore (you'd think, by reputation, that it would be his brother, John, but no, it's Lionel). I understand from a brief piece on TCM that his collapse at its conclusion is real (?), either fainting or suffering a heart attack (?). The mention on TCM is the only place I've heard this, but he so lives that scene, so clearly feels it, he tears my heart in two every time I watch it, and so it's no surprise to me that he may have torn himself apart accomplishing it. Grand cinema.

These movies, and the many others from this period and these actors, belong at the forefront of classic DVD promotions. Valentino's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Wings, The Big Parade (mentioned in a recent Warner chat, if I recall?), the usual big titles, but there are small titles no one talks about that should be emphasized as well. Evelyn Prentice, Myrna Loy's best performance, I believe, and her best teaming with William Powell (a drama, not a comedy); their best comic work together, Love Crazy (I'm hoping both will be considered for the second Loy/Powell box that was mentioned in one of the Warner chats); Guilty Hands (more Lionel Barrymore gold, this time in a morally complex hero/villain role, released the same year as A Free Soul); Rasputin and the Empress (the three Barrymore siblings together); Three on a Match (the most salacious Pre-Code Hollywood picture I've seen: it's absolutely shocking); One Way Passage (William Powell's best romance, and a picture that brings up another lovely lady who deserves a boxed set of her very own: Kay Francis, but if anyone here thinks Norma Shearer isn't well known today … I weep for Kay, who well deserves another day in the sun) … but the titles could go on forever. Perhaps the place to start is a Norma Shearer set. I can think of nothing better.

I'm happy that both Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow have already been mentioned by others. I'm very eager to buy that new Jean Harlow set: I recall the chat wording (didn't one of the participants say "it will be a BOMBSHELL," in caps, referencing her film of that name? I haven't checked the transcript, but that’s how I recall the wording …. Unfortunately, Bombshell is my least favorite of her pictures, probably because of the unbelievably obnoxious and annoying agent who hounds her. In point of fact, my favorite Jean Harlow film, and my favorite film of the 30's, is the relatively simple character play Wife Versus Secretary, and so great appreciation to Warner for including that picture in its Clark Gable set: the little gem no one quite knows awaits! That was my top title of the 30's for DVD release, a picture dearer to me than even Gone With the Wind or … well, yes, more dear even than its closest rival, City Lights, and man is that praise … a prize now that it's here), and personally hope that in addition to obvious choices like Red Dust and Personal Property, both great movies, they'll perhaps include an early picture or two, such as The Beast of the City.

I suppose most of those titles belong on other threads. Focusing on Norma, as she certainly deserves, I'd emphasize getting A Free Soul out on disc, either by itself or as part of a Shearer set, and go forward from there. For those who may not know, in addition to marrying Irving Thalberg and staying by his side until his death, in addition to being sister to Douglas Shearer (happy thoughts of what his professional life must have been like at MGM for so many years, contributing to so many magnificent films, the company of such gifted and talented coworkers and the design of sound for talking pictures from the very beginning and throughout their first decades his daily "grind," are more than enough to lull me into a sleep fit for angels at night – I'm happy for him every time I see his name in a credit roll, which is just about every time I watch an MGM classic, because whatever his personal life, and I know nothing of it, his professional was charmed indeed) and discoverer, if memory serves, of a young Robert Evans, she also discovered Janet Leigh (I believe Evans says she discovered him in a swimming pool in his memoirs and film The Kid Stays in the Picture, but if that isn't right please correct me; I'm certain, however, that Ms. Leigh said she, too, was discovered by Norma). Showing everyone how it's done, then finding and encouraging a successor for new roles in a new generation as lovely as Janet Leigh – Norma Shearer was a true movie star both during her screen years and beyond, a sentiment I believe I echo from Ms. Leigh herself in a tribute for TCM.

A Shearer boxed set would be eagerly purchased by me, and sequel sets for Garbo, for Ms. Shearer, for all the great MGM stars of the 30’s and the late silent era, will be DVD gold acclaimed and cherished by this tenacious 49er (have I exhausted my repository of tired and annoying metaphors yet? Sure, sure, let’s say I have …). No one did movies like MGM, no one had stars like MGM, and there just cannot be enough classic MGM on DVD.

"If you build it, they will come."* A DVD tribute to Norma Shearer might be a lovely spark to reignite public interest in her many film accomplishments (I suppose that's an old argument, but I think it holds water). As those silver stickers say (pardon me for paraphrasing), watch it on Turner Classic Movies, own it on Warner DVD. My mantra.

* I imagine everyone knows this citation, but just the same: Field of Dreams (1989)

 

[ReggieW]

Bill -

Nice post.

I think that Beast of the City and Secret Six are both coming. Secret Six was pulled from the Gable set early on for a later release I believe, and "Beast" is likely to appear in a Harlow set. Secret Six will likely be in the next Gable set -Hopefully next year.

I agree that Shearer needs a boxset. Hopefully Warner is taking note of the responses in this thread.

We do disagree on "Bombshell" though. To me this is with a doubt, Harlow's best performance.... Look at her delivery. It is like Rosalind Russell before "His Girl Friday." I truly think Harlow was a far greater actress than she's often given credit for. The press agent was Lee Tracy, and he has been great in every role I've seen him in, especially Dinner at Eight. "Bombshell" really gave Harlow room to vent, as she appeared to be making fun of her own image and the studio system she felt entrapped by. As you pointed out, "wife vs Secretary" was closer to the REAL Harlow by all accounts.

 

[Bill Burns]

Oh, we don't disagree about Ms. Harlow, Reggie. Perish the thought! Jean Harlow is captivating and delightful in Bombshell. I find her so in just about all of her pictures, certainly those made after Dinner At Eight (and including it). I didn't have his name at hand, but I've enjoyed Lee Tracy in other films -- it's his character in this one that sinks the movie for me, though (as do the diabolical characters in Sweethearts, for instance, conspiring to deny Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy their chance in Hollywood). If the intent was to make the audience feel Jean's frustration as all those around her, most deliberately and even diabolically Lee Tracy, do what they can to keep her from claiming the calm, motherly, domestic life she wants, they've succeeded beautifully. It's a good movie, and deserves inclusion in a Harlow set -- but it's my least favorite, because I feel all of the frustration for poor Jean's character, and it leaves me saddened. A comedy that leaves me sad isn't a happy time! I feel guilty laughing! Better to confine such triumphant frustration to the fine melodramas of ... sure, why not? Norma Shearer. We come full circle. But I admire the picture's cast without reservation, all of whom are actors of skill and ... well, to borrow a word from a Phantom, appeal.

Perhaps a small disagreement there. At any rate, I'm very happy to hear that both The Beast of the City and The Secret Six are planned (Walter Huston is a powerhouse in so many of his pictures, and he makes The Beast of the City essential, but The Secret Six is my favorite of the two: Wallace Beery is one of my favorite character actors, easily my favorite in working man roles, and his little touches, scenes that don't mean much of anything, like when he orders "a gob of spaghetti and a bottle of cow" early in that film, only to leave them untouched, if I recall ... you just have to love the way he handles period slang and occupies a simple scene, making you feel hungry because he's hungry, and making his distractions our own -- that forgotten meal means something, or else surely I wouldn't still remember it months, even years, after last seeing the picture on TCM. He and Harlow would send Dinner at Eight "to the moon," to borrow a famous phrase from television's greatest battling spouses*, and having them both in this earlier, less polished, but very entertaining picture, is a delight. An ... Idiot's Delight? Not at all, but that's another Norma Shearer picture I'd love to see on DVD.

A pity The Secret Six may not be along as soon as the Jean Harlow collection, but a second Clark Gable DVD set (a third, actually, accounting for Fox's recent set, which has one of the best photographs I've seen of Mr. Gable on its cover) will make it very much worth the wait.

By the by, regarding Joan Crawford: I love the 1931 Possessed, a picture I prefer to the 1947 in just about every way, though the '47 is a much more psychologically ambitious story (the two films have nothing in common, so far as I know, but star and title). I think the '47 just disturbs me too deeply, and its conclusion is pretty frustrating (from the perspective of "justice for the dead"); but the '31 is superb.

* That would be "The Honeymooners," of course.

 

[Rob_Ray]

Bill,

Thanks for making this one of the most interesting threads I've read in a long, long time. I have a stack of Norma Shearer films to watch thanks to TCM and will pull "Evelyn Prentice" with Myrna Loy off the TCM shelf on your recommendation.

Miss Shearer is, indeed, sadly neglected today for reasons you and others have so eloquently stated. And, to follow up on your mention of Kay Francis, I caught "Confession" last night with Kay as a world-weary nightclub singer who shoots Basil Rathbone and won't testify in her own defense at her trial. It has an imaginative story arc in its reworking of a "Madame X"-ish tale and Kay gets full opportunity to show her range. Catch it if you haven't already. Another good one is coming up next month -- don't miss "Manderlay" where Ricardo Cortez sells Kay into prostitution. TCM is airing it on Kay Francis day in October.

And back to Norma -- she was never lovelier than in "The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg" with Ramon Novarro. And from her later period, I like "Escape." Since she, like Garbo, worked exclusively at MGM, I hope to someday have her entire extant filmography on DVD and watch them chronologically. I once watched Jean Harlow's films chronologically over a month's time. It was fascinating to watch her grow as a actress and comedienne.

Like Bill, I have no interest in what's playing at the local multiplex. I've been burned too often with what passes for entertainment today. Since I've found TCM, my TV has no other channel.

 

[Bill Burns]

Thanks for the very kind words, Rob. I'll keep an eye on the TCM schedule for those two Kay Francis pictures, as I don't believe I've seen either, and both sound like just my cup of tea. Of the Kay pictures I've caught over the years, my favorite is One Way Passage, as mentioned earlier, and my second favorite is a lovely melodrama (and it's a full-blooded melodrama: a child torn from her mother, a mother in hiding from a blackmailer and former lover, if memory serves me, all revolving around the theatrical stage) called I Found Stella Parish. I'd cherish a Kay Francis boxed set ("I'd cherish Perish on DVD"? Or is that too silly?).

Focusing again on one of the two women of the hour, Norma Shearer, I was just thinking today of the wonderful picture Riptide. I saw that again on TCM some months ago (time flies) and it's a really fine picture, and TCM's broadcast master is of such quality, I imagine there are great film elements available for it: it'd surely look splendid on DVD. Robert Montgomery makes what might be, in the many roles of his career, an unprecedented amount of trouble, nearly killing himself while simultaneously breaking up a loving and adoring marriage. But the entire film is worth seeing just for the giant bug costume in the beginning (there's another thread active at the moment about Universal's new DVD collection of 50's monster movies -- maybe some of those guys would get a kick out of this, too!). Norma's mighty sexy (she's such a luminous movie star) in her costume, but the sight of Herbert Marshall in his big insect costume for a masked ball is beyond words. The costumes are abandoned for formal evening attire before very long, but while they are worn, it's ... well, in my experience wholly unique in what before long becomes an oppulent romantic drama. Levity to disarm the audience for what's to eventually follow (Robert Montgomery contributes to that deception as well). It's a rich and very worthwhile picture, another of my favorites.

Permit me a friendly correction, however: I haven't stopped going to the cinema. I understand why you assumed I had, and I fully endorse your reasons for abandoning it, but I must confess that I maintain an affection and respect for the best of modern film productions as well. Not too terribly many, but more than enough to keep me buying DVDs of films both new and old, and catching what seem to me likely the best in theatres (I'm exceptionally frustrated, and have been for years, with lazy projection that occasionally presents a film out of focus or misaligned, but I've found a theatre where the former happens only seldomly, and the latter never at all, knock on wood). I feel much the same as you about the amount of dreck in theatres (both independent and studio) over the last thirty years or more, perhaps the last forty. Too much of it relies on formulas and aesthetics with too little of the class of those present in Hollywood's early years, a class that allowed for a little sex and a little violence without making the world depicted seem common. But every now and then there's something so special that comes out, something no one else has done in ages, and it makes one mighty glad they've first seen it on a forty foot screen off of 35mm, and that they can then later cherish every moment on DVD, HD-DVD, or Blu-Ray. It doesn't happen often, I certainly grant, but often enough that I haven't foresworn the cineplex altogether.

My focus and deepest passion is indeed for classical cinema, however, particularly Hollywood cinema of the late 20's and throughout the 30's, and so let me reiterate once more:

A Norma Shearer DVD boxed set (a series of boxed sets, all of her films on DVD, a hope Rob mentions above and with which I concur wholly) would be top on my list of purchases, and among the foremost of the DVDs I prize most highly. My love of 1930's Hollywood cinema knows few exceptions.

 

[Bill Burns]

I never follow up my own posts (at least, I hope I never do, not without a darn good reason), but as it's the first picture Junior V mentions in this thread, I thought it was worth mentioning to all that Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is playing Norma Shearer's Lady of the Night this very night, at 12:15 AM (which is to say, Monday morning). My television listing identifies it as a premiere. Its director, Monta Bell, seems also to have directed, without credit, Greta Garbo's first American film, Torrent, which TCM shows from time to time. So many great candidates for DVD release ....

 

[Junior_V]

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

http://tcmdb.com/TCMDB/title/title.jsp?stid=1019

 

[MielR]

I watched it. Usually when TCM shows a film, that means a DVD isn't far behind.
Keep checking their website for new releases.

 

[Junior_V]

Did the print look good?

 

[MielR]

Yes it did- excellent in fact. Very sharp and clear with very little print damage. They used color tinting to indicate day/night scenes.

I was impressed by the way they did the split-screen with the 2 Norma Shearer characters in the car.

 

[AdamPen]

Actually, that comment brings this thread rather full circile.

There was no split-screen - that's Joan Crawford! "Lady of the Night" was Joan's first film, where she famously "played the back of Norma Shearer's head". It's pretty well documented that their "feud" began here. In some of the two-shots it's pretty obvious that it's not Norma, especially when they change to a close-up right after. It's really fun to watch - and if you know Crawford's face, you can definately tell that it's her in many spots.

Also, someone posted about "Stolen Jools" above - that was a Crawford film, not Shearer. It has been on cheapie-DVD for awhile in decent quality.

I spent a great deal of time collecting all the Crawford talkies and transfering them to DVD (1929-1970, I've got 'em all), but was elated that TCM showed her "first" film last weekend like this. I really want to collect all the silents (have about 1/3 of them now), but I'd really like to fully complete my collection so I have from 1925-1970.

Adam

 

[Irina]

Adam,
The version of Stolen Jools that I have seen starred Norma Shearer. Is there another version of this movie with Joan Crawford?

This is the description from New York Times:

""The Stolen Jools."

There is on exhibition at most of the cinemas on Broadway a short film called "The Stolen Jools," in which there are said to be fifty-five of Hollywood's celebrities. This subject was made to assist the National Vaudeville Association in swelling its benevolent fund.

It is an amusing piece of work in which Norma Shearer's jewels are supposed to have been stolen and a police inspector in various disguises visits the different screen players who are supposed to have been at a dance where the jewels were missed. Wallace Beery opens the proceedings as a police sergeant and Bert Lytell comes on after the sketch and makes a plea for donations from the audience."

 

[AdamPen]

It seems as if it's the same picture.

I have Stolen Jools here in front of me, and it's a Laurel and Hardy short from 1931.

"Laurel and Hardy star as two detectives that mistakenly make a final payment on their car. Expect a series of gagas, skits and one-liners, all of which hit the mark."

It also stars Joe E. Brown, Gabby Hayes, Buster Keaton, and Edward Robinson. However, as you can see from the IMDB link, it seems as if "Stolen Jools" is the AKA, as they have it listed as "The Slippery Pearls". According to the IMDB, Shearer plays herself in it. It's been ages since I've watched it, I'll have to check it out again. I'm sure they don't have any scenes together, and I probably skipped over it looking for the Crawford parts. (Bad yes, I know...)

Adam

 

[Irina]

Thanks Adam! Stolen Jools is really more of a curiosity piece than anything else. I also saw the Laurel and Hardy Stolen Jools on imdb.com.

 

[MielR]

Yeah, Robert Osbourne mentioned that. The scenes where they're in contact (hugging), it's the back of Joan Crawford's head (and in some other scenes where she is just seen from the back) However, there's a scene in the car where both women's faces are visible (but they're not touching)- and they're both Norma. You can see a slight seam in the film (in the tips of the hat feathers), but it's still very convincing.

 

[Corey]

i have a great feeling that Norma will get the TCM archives treatment with her silents. I expect Lady of the Night to be included as well as The Student Prince and After Midnight.

 

[Rob W]

The Stolen Jools / Slippery Pearls is no more a Laurel & Hardy short than it is a Norma Shearer short. The boys have one scene as detectives who arrive in their car to investigate the robbery, at which point the car falls apart around them. Hardy turns to Laurel and says "I TOLD you not to make that last payment ! "

It was made as an all-star short to raise money for an industry charity ( as stated above ) and went out under several different titles. But, there is no 'other ' short with the same name that was part of the official 'Laurel & Hardy" series.