Witness to Murder

Witness to Murder
Released Date: April 15, 1954
Director: Roy Rowland
Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill, Jesse White, Harry Shannon, Clair Carleton, Lewis Martin, Dick Elliott, and Harry Tyler

     Could you imagine waking up in the middle of the night, and believing you witnessed a murder? Or how about witnessing a murder, telling the police, and nobody believing you actually saw it? How about being told that you're insane, and need help, that would stink wouldn't it? Cheryl Draper (Barbara Stanwyck) woke up in the middle of the night and when she looked outside, saw her neighbor, Albert Richter (George Sanders) murdering a woman. Cheryl called the police right away but they did not find a shred of evidence to show that Albert actually killed someone. The two police officers are Lawrence Mathews (Gary Merrill) and Eddie Vincent (Jesse White). What do you suppose happens to a woman who believes she witnessed a murder, nobody believes her and worst of all, the killer knows who she is and where she lives? Find out what happens to Cheryl, by watching this awesome movie :)

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir

The Ghost And Mrs. Muir
Released Year: 1947
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Vanessa Brown, Anna Lee, Robert Coote, Natalie Wood, Isobel Elsom, Victoria Horne, Helen Freeman, Stuart Holmes, Whitford Kane, Buster Slaven, and Will Stanton

     This movie was done by 20th Century-Fox, who always uses trumpets for their opening numbers. This film and three others do not use the sound of the trumpets. The other films are All About Eve, Sounder, and The Sound of Music. Bernard Herrmann composed the music for this picture, he is also known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock as well. Herrmann has said that this was the best music he ever composed. Another cool piece of information is that this movie is about a seaman, which happens to be funny because the word "Muir" means "The Sea" in the Irish language, Gaelic. You may also recognize Victoria Horne, she was also in Harvey with Jimmy Stewart.

     The year is 1900 and Lucy Muir (Gene Tierney) is tired of living with her late husband's mother Angelica (Isobel Elsom) and sister Eva (Victoria Horne). Which is not surprising as they are two irritating people. So Lucy decides to pack up and leave with her daughter Anna (Natalie Wood). The two end up moving to a beautiful house called Gull Cottage, and it is sitting by the ocean on a coastal village. Lucy soon starts to hear things inside the home. And discovers a ghost! The ghost is Captain Daniel Gregg (Rex Harrison), and the story is that he committed suicide. Which Lucy soon finds out from the source that it just isn't so. The two of them find themselves talking everyday and having a great time. For when Lucy first moved in, the Captain tried to get rid of the Muir's by trying to scare them. Which Lucy was just not afraid enough to move out. Realizing this, the Captain becomes friends with her instead. After a bit of time, Lucy's mother in law, and sister in law come to the house only to tell her that she will be having financial trouble which means losing the house. The Captain and Lucy end up writing a novel together to save the house. The Captain does not want to lose her, and does not want to have to scare away another family! The book is soon finished and Lucy is to take the book and get it published. At first, the publisher is not interested, he says that he gets thousands of women in every year trying to publish a love story. But this book is different, it is about a seaman and all of his travels. It is a book for men! Lucy gets the publisher to read her book, and he falls in love with it. Lucy ends up with the money and keeps the house. During this trip to the publisher's office, she meets Miles Fairley (George Sanders). He is an attractive man and he also tries to woo her. The Captain is pretty jealous of this, but decides to leave so he can stay away and not interfere with Lucy and her new life. But soon Lucy finds out a secret about Miles that may or may not mean wedding bells. He did propose, but does this secret mean no to the marriage? Lucy can't live forever can she? Will this mean that when she dies, she will end up with Captain Daniel Gregg, or will she have married Miles and end up with him as ghosts instead? Find out by watching this must see! I enjoyed it very much, and recommend it to everyone.

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.