National Velvet

National Velvet
Released Date: January 26, 1945
Director: Clarence Brown
Actors: Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp, Anne Revere, Angela Lansbury, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, and Juanita Quigley

     After the movie was made, Elizabeth Taylor got to keep the horse. But did you know, that Elizabeth Taylor had a lot of back issues. And it was from riding a horse, around this time that she got back issues. She jammed a few of her vertebra and did not get it checked out for many years later. I enjoyed watching this movie for many reasons. I love Elizabeth Taylor, and Angela Lansbury. The mother in this, Anne Revere is a great actress. Seeing Elizabeth Taylor with one of her loves, horses, is a pure enjoyment.

     Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) is a huge horse lover. She meets Mi Taylor (Mickey Rooney) one day while she was out watching a horse running around while Mi was out walking the dusty road. Her family decides to let Mi in off of the streets. Mi does not have a home after his father died years before. Velvet's family is very loving and takes in Mi without questions. Back to how Mi and Velvet met, Velvet always watches Pie, a horse she finds beautiful and loves from a distance. The owner of the horse decides to get rid of her after Pie ran loose through the town. So they have a raffle and Velvet wins. Mi, was a horse rider for a while but then after a horrible accident, decided not to ride anymore. But he takes time and teaches Velvet the ends and out of riding on a track. One day, Mi tells Velvet about a horse race in England. It's a huge race that even the queen shows up for. Mi gets everything together, the money to get the Pie in the race, to find a rider and to get the horse over to the race. When the rider shows his heart is not in the right place, Velvet decides to ride instead. But females are not allowed to ride the horses, but Velvet takes it on. She even has Mi cut her hair short. Does she win? Do they find out that a girl rode Pie? Find out by watching this amazing movie :) I enjoyed it a lot and hope that you do too. 

Coming Up...

I have been watching so many movies that I never saw before. I'll be posting great movies coming up here soon. And I'm so excited. :) just wait. 

Crawford Vs. Davis

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had a very popular feud. The rivalry between them was like the Redskins and Cowboys. Like Duke and the Tarheels. Just to name a few. Did you know that Joan Crawford, during the making of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, was married to one of the Pepsi Cola owners? So guess what Bette Davis did, she brought in a Coke vending machine. She was such a clever thing, wasn't she?

Bette Davis Day

TCM is having a Bette Davis marathon day and I love it. Jezebel is playing right now. Jezebel can be summed up with words like these:

Yellow Fever Victim, Red Dress, St. Louis, Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, White Dress, Marriage, Mosquito, War...

Awesome film. I have loved watching Bette Davis work the screen for a long time. She's amazing and skilled. Hope everyone is having the best TCM day and if not, I hope you have a chance to record the superb line up this day.

A Day Late, A Buck Short

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALFRED HITCHCOCK..... Yesterday.... 

Ginger Rogers:

Romantic Couple

Carole Lombard and Clark Gable were a cute all American, Hollywood couple!! They married in 1939. 

But then on January 16, 1942, Carole Lombard was on a plane to head back home. She had been selling War Bonds to help her country. The plane she was on, along with her mother too, crashed on the side of a mountain. Everyone on the plane died instantly. Clark Gable was noted as inconsolable and decided to join the Army to serve his country too. His wife, Lombard asked him many times to join before. Even though Clark Gable was married, twice more in fact, he was buried next to Lombard. 

Born To Be Bad

Born To Be Bad
Released Date: August 27, 1950
Director: Nicholas Ray
Actors: Mel Ferrer, Joan Fontaine, Robert Ryan, Zachary Scott, Joan Leslie, Harold Vermilyea, Virginia Farmer

     Joan Fontaine almost always plays the good girl. So here is your chance to see a whole other side of her and one that you will not approve of.

     Donna Foster (Joan Leslie) and Curtis Carey (Zachary Scott) are madly in love and will marry soon. Donna works for a man who needs her to take care of his niece. Christabel Caine (Joan Fontaine) is the niece and is very much a problem from the word go. You can tell by her charm that she is indeed into two guys. Nick Bradly (Robert Ryan) who is a writer, but at this moment, is not financially stable. But she is also into Curtis, who is not available at all. In fact, he only shares care for her as a friend. Curtis however is rich, and then becomes unsure that his fiance is marrying him for him or for his money. Christabel makes sure that he does not marry the girl of his dreams, to be with her. She does not realize how much Nick meant to her, until she looses him. By the end, does Christabel get her ending she deserves, or does Nick fall in love with her lies once more? Mel Ferrer plays a very talented painter, Gabriel "Gobby" Broome. He is a very talented actor and very easy on the eyes. :)

Kay Johnson

Kay Johnson (November 29, 1904 - November 17, 1975), she was born Catherine Townsend Johnson. She went by Kay most of her childhood and it stuck during her film career. While she was married to John Cromwell and after they divorced, she moved out of Hollywood and out of the spotlight. She is a great actress who worked in some great movies, ie Of Human Bondage with Bette Davis and Leslie Howard, also the movie American Madness by director Frank Capra. Which is one of my favorite Frank Capra movies, and to be honest, she stole the show. 

Here below, she is seen with Walter Huston in American Madness. 

Dancing Problems

The picture above is from the very famous Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie "Top Hat" and did you know that it was Ginger Rogers idea to wear the dress seen in the picture? As a matter of fact, Fred Astaire hated the dress with all the feathers flying around and getting in his face. He asked Ginger Rogers to change her dress even, and she said no to Astaire because she believed that the dress would work. Later on, after Mr. Astaire saw the movie, he agreed with her and from then on, he trusted Miss. Rogers ideas on their films and dance routines. Pretty neat huh?