The Blue Gardenia

The Blue Gardenia
Released Date: March 23, 1953
Director: Fritz Lang
Actors: Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Raymond Burr, Jeff Donnell, Richard Erdman, George Reeves, Ray Walker, Ruth Storey, and Nat 'King' Cole

     I love watching TCM, and my favorite thing about TCM.. Turning it on and starting a random movie. Or even going on Demand and seeing the movies they have for you to watch for a whole month. That is how I stumbled upon The Blue Gardenia. I saw that Anne Baxter was in it and also Raymond Burr. That had my attention from the start. Then reading the summary, that got me to hit play. I love the sound of Nat 'King' Cole, and his beautiful voice starts the movie off right. I love seeing Anne Baxter as the good girl, when I was younger I was convinced she really was evil like Eve, and I didn't like her at all. But then seeing her in I Confess by Alfred Hitchcock and then this, I can see how wonderful of an actor she really is. And how many roles she could accomplish.

     Norah Larkin (Anne Baxter) works as a telephone operator with her two roommates, Crystal Carpenter (Ann Sothern) and Rose Miller (Ruth Storey). They too are telephone operators. You can see from the beginning that Harry Prebble (Raymond Burr) is up to no good, and gets the girls telephone number. Flirting with the operators and then closing his office door to talk to another woman on the phone, who seems to be a little more than a coworker or even friend. Norah has a boyfriend anyway, well she did. He's away in the military and she is having her relationship through letters. Till one day, on her birthday, she gets the dear john letter, wait is that what they are called? He has found another girl in Japan and he is going to marry her. Harry Prebble calls the house and expects to get one of the single girls. Instead, Norah answers, but just having her heart broken, she accepts his date offer of Chinese food and drinks. And boy does she drink. She gets drunk even, and ends up at his apartment. With the song "Blue Gardenia" playing the whole time, either in your head because it played at dinner, or they really do play it a few times. But its nice anyway. Harry tries to kiss Norah, and realizing what she's done, she hits him over the head. The next day, Harry is found murdered. Was it Norah? Was it when she hit him upside the head? Find out by watching this fun movie.

Rear Window

Rear Window
Released Date: January 14, 1955
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Actors: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr

     James Stewart and Cary Grant have two things in common. They are both in four Alfred Hitchcock movies. James Stewart had: Rear Window (this), Rope, Vertigo, and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Cary Grant had: North By Northwest, To Catch A Thief, Notorious, and Suspicion. I have always thought that was a pretty cool piece of information. The fact that a director and actors had a favorite to work with and you always knew who the director liked. I have known a lot of people say that their favorite movie by Alfred Hitchcock was Rear Window. I guess the cool thing about this movie is the suspense, Jimmy Stewart's facial expressions, Grace Kelly's presence in the film, and the comedic relief Thelma Ritter gives off and on during the movie.

     James Stewart's role is of a man, L. B. Jefferies or Jeff as he is called throughout. Jeff is a professional photographer and was hurt during one of his assignments dealing with cars. He broke his leg, one leg. He is stuck in his apartment and all he has is his beautiful neighbors to watch and keep him company. Jeff does however, have a friend that stops by, a Det. Lt. Doyle, played by Wendell Corey. His nurse comes by either once or twice a day, Stella, played by Thelma Ritter. And also his girlfriend, Lisa Carol Fremont, played by the beautiful Grace Kelly. His nurse, Stella is afraid that there will be trouble coming soon, and like the Stock Market Crash she predicted, she is correct at her feelings. Now it is up to Doyle, Lisa and Stella to figure out if Jeff's criminal neighbor is actually a criminal. This movie is fast, hot and completely suspenseful. It will keep you on your toes, unless your leg is broken too, but then it will keep you on the edge of you seat.

     Jimmy Stewart is a married man by this time in his personal life. His wife, naturally was afraid after he took this role. Grace Kelly was known for having affairs with her costars. Even if they were married. And it did not matter how old they were. But Stewart's wife had admitted later on that even though at first she was afraid, Stewart never gave her the actual fear of an affair. Grace Kelly even became rather close to Mrs. Stewart and they were friends till Kelly's death. This movie is really cool, because like I said earlier, Jimmy Stewart's entire roll is his expressions and you completely know what he is thinking. And you do end up sweating with him because this movie is based in the summer time and everyone is sweating in these very hot days. It is almost summer time now, and it is the perfect weather to watch this movie.