The Petrified Forest

The Petrified Forest
Released Date: February 8, 1936
Director: Archie Mayo
Actors: Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Genevieve Tobin, Dick Foran, Joe Sawyer, Porter Hall, Charley Grapewin, Paul Harvey, Eddie Acuff, Adrian Morris, Nina Campana, Slim Thompson, and John Alexander

     I have enjoyed Bette Davis my entire life and got to see this great movie staring my favorite actress just last month. The handsome Leslie Howard and mans man Humphrey Bogart also star. Both men, Howard and Bogart, were in the stage version of this film. Warner Brothers, the studio that made this movie, wanted to keep Leslie Howard in his stage role but wanted to replace Humphrey Bogart. But after Howard said that he wanted to do the movie only with Humphrey Bogart, they decided to keep Bogart in his role as well. Later in life, Humphrey Bogart named his second born child with Lauren Bacall Leslie, after Howard due to his credit in Bogart's fame. Bogart plays Duke Mantee, whose character was inspired by the famous bank robber, John Dillinger.

     Gabrielle Maple (Bette Davis) is hard at work at her father's diner/gas station. Gabrielle is dating a man that works at the diner, but does not seem too interested in him. But when Alan Squier (Leslie Howard), a poor man who has traveled a lot and has many stories enters the diner, it is love at first sight. Alan is talking about where he going and when a couple comes in with the same destination, Alan heads off. While Alan and his company are on the road, they get stopped by Duke Mantee (Humphrey Bogart) and his gang. Duke and his gang are heading straight for the diner, Alan follows them right back to Gabrielle. But what will happen with a diner full of nervous people, a waitress, and a killer? Find out the outcome by watching this great movie and enjoy watching a young Bette Davis light up the screen. Clearly to be a big star, you have Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart's young star quality to make this movie a must see!

The Man Who Came To Dinner

The Man Who Came To Dinner
Released Date: January 24, 1942
Director: William Keighley
Actors: Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolley, Richard Travis, Jimmy Durante, Billie Burke, Reginald Gardiner, Elisabeth Fraser, Grant Mitchell, George Barbier, and Mary Wickes

     Bette Davis is an amazing actress, she always know what parts were made for her and how to do the part to perfection. She went and saw this play and wanted John Barrymore to play the man who came to dinner. But when Barrymore tested for the part, he wasn't able to remember lines and was not doing so well in health. One of my top ten favorite Bette Davis movies, and almost anything she is in is amazing, so finding ten to say are my favorites is pretty impressive ;) Also something else I found really funny is that the man who came to dinner is Sheridan Whiteside, and the actress Ann Sheridan is in this movie. :)

     Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Woolley) is a famous man, a radio star. He is on his way to have dinner with a family in Ohio. Now how they picked this particular family is beyond me, but I do know that the family is pretty popular too. Whiteside slips on the families steps outside the house and is suing the family for a lot of money. He is completely mean during his stay but soon warms up. He also tries very hard to keep relationships apart. He is fast witted and very entertaining. His secretary is Maggie Cutler (Bette Davis). Enjoy this fantastic film. It is set around Christmas time, which make for a very merry movie. 

Facts..

I have always been a huge fan of Bette Davis, Maggie Smith and Angela Lansbury. I saw them together in Agatha Christie's book turned into a movie, Death on the Nile. I was amazed to find out that the three of them shared a room together during filming. Oh how I wish I was a fly on the wall during the making of such a neat movie, with such amazing actresses. 

Thanksgiving

I Hope Everyone Had a Happy Thanksgiving :) 

Bette Davis made sure that the service men had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you Bette Davis for making our troops happy!!! Bette Davis started the Hollywood Canteen, and worked the canteen too. 

The Letter

The Letter 
Released Date: November 23, 1940
Director: William Wyler
Actors: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort, Gale Sondergaard, Bruce Lester, Elizabeth Inglis, Cecil Kellaway, and Victor Sen Yung

     Lux Radio Theather presented in a sixty minute adaptation of The Letter. Reprising their movie rolls, is Bette Davis and Herbert Marshall. I'll tell you, it is always fun listening to the Lux programs. Even now. And being a huge old movie fan, the Lux Radio is my favorite. Have you ever listened to Lights Out? My second favorite radio program. It is always relaxing listening to a program before bed, or while laying in bed for the night. I especially love how the Radio was able to take a two hour, or more or less, movie and fit it into either a one hour or half hour program. But it's double awesome when the same actors play their parts again. I think it would be really cool to see the radio bring back the oldies. When I brought up Lights Out earlier, I wonder if that was the radio program coming on the night Grace Kelly's character was to be killed in Dial M For Murder. The Letter is a very fun and suspenseful film. Bette Davis is great at playing the "Bad Guy" and you can tell she has fun doing it! She is such a great actress that anything she did turned into gold. She even played a great Queen.

     Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) was at home one evening while her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall) was working. While she was alone, she claims that the man she shot and killed tried to make a pass at her. So the murder was in self defense. Now Leslie and Robert need to visit Singapore where they face the Attorney General who will make the final call of the trial. Leslie's solicitor, Howard Joyce (James Stephenson) finds out that there was a letter sent to the man who was murdered the day of his death. The letter contained a piece of vital information that will set the trials ending. Although Leslie's husband forgives her, the widow of the deceased  however has different feelings. 

All About Eve

All about Eve
Released Date: January 15, 1951
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter and Marilyn Monroe

My grandma's favorite actress, she always said, was Bette Davis. And so I decided that the next movie I would write about is the one movie that by far has the greatest acting I have ever seen--All About Eve. It was made perfectly.

I think all the actors in this are absolutely perfect and Bette Davis still stole the show. Bette Davis had such confidence, she makes the rest of the women in the world look like insecure freaks. But the fact is, she was confident because she probably knew how truly wonderful she was at acting. She didn't just read the script but she became the script. Her most memorable line in this movie, and one of the best lines ever, was "fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night."  The movie is worth watching just to hear her deliver it!

Another person I enjoy in this movie is Thelma Ritter. She was funny and very on key. Her and Bette Davis became great friends. Thelma Ritter was a big star back in the day. Although she was not the main character in anything she played, she acted in a lot of movies.

This was Marilyn Monroe's first big movie and because of her insecurities, legend has it that Bette Davis made her cry on the set one day. Bette Davis and Gary Merrill had enjoyed their roles so much and thought so much of the couple they played that they both decided that they would make a great couple in real life. It ended in divorce as Gary ended up being abusive and Bette Davis knew better than to stay.

The movie is about a woman who becomes completely infatuated with an actress. She wants to become her, she wants to be the same actress, have the same clothes, same friends, same boyfriend, same everything. She ends up meeting her favorite actress and completely takes over as her maid. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, who is the star and is also the stalked. The stalker is Anne Baxter. Anne Baxter played the part so well that I truly thought she was evil. I used to call her Anne Back Stabber. I also refused to watch The Ten Commandments because she was in it and I did not like her.

Parts of it may ring painfully true to every actor today because so many in show business have a stalker. If I could, Jake Gyllenhaal would be stalked by muah. I'm just kitten, I know Jake Gyllenhaal is reading this and probably follows me. Right????

Well I hope you end up watching this movie and I hope you like it. It is not only a classic, but one for the ages.