Barbara Stanwyck can be yours for "Ten Cents a Dance"

Ten Cents a Dance (1931) is an American pre-Code romantic drama directed by Lionel Barrymore and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley, and Sally Blane.

Barbara O'Neill (Stanwyck) is a taxi dancer at the Palais de Dance, a dance hall in New York City. Bradley Carlton, a wealthy patron gives Barbara $100 because he enjoys her company.

When Barbara discovers that Eddie Miller, a tenant at the same boarding house in which she lives is about to skip town because he is behind on his rent, she gives him the $100. Barbara asks Bradley to provide Eddie with a job, which he agrees to do. It isn't too long before Eddie and Barbara fall in love and Barbara quits the dance hall at Eddie's insistence.

Eddie grows dissatisfied with his life and starts to gamble and embezzle money from Bradley's company. Everything comes crumbling down and Eddie and Barbara's marriage is in trouble.

Will Eddie and Barbara work out their financial and marital problems? And what about Bradley? Where does he fit in?

Lionel Barrymore (1878 - 1954) was an American stage, screen, and radio actor. He was also a film director in the era of silent and early talking pictures. He is the older brother of Ethel and John Barrymore. Barrymore won a Best Actor Academy Award for his work in A Free Soul (1931). He is probably most famous for his screen portrayal of Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946).  Other films he starred in include Dinner at Eight (1933), The Little Colonel (1935) with Shirley Temple, Duel in the Sun (1946), and Key Largo (1948).

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Ricardo Cortez (1900 - 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was born Jacob Kranze or Krantz to Jewish parents in New York City. Because of his Latin-like features, he benefited from the popularity of top silent film stars Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Novarro. He was the first actor to play Sam Spade in the original pre-Code version of The Maltese Falcon (1931). Besides his acting career, Cortez directed several B-movies for 20th Century Fox. After retiring from films, he worked as a stockbroker for Solomon Brothers on Wall Street.

Monroe Owsley (1900 - 1937) was an American stage and film actor. Owsley got his start on the stage and made his film debut in 1928. He was in the original film version of Holiday (1930) in the role played by Lew Ayres in the 1938 version. In the early 1930s, he was cast opposite Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, and Kay Francis. On June 7, 1937, Owsley died of a heart attack. He was 36 years old.

Sally Blane (1910 - 1997) was an American actress who acted in silent films as a child. She acted in silent films as an adult and continued acting in film through most of the 1930s. Her last film credit was in A Bullet for Joey (1955) starring Edward G. Robinson and George Raft. She was married to actor Norman Foster.

Ten Cents a Dance trivia

• The first and the last talking picture directed by Lionel Barrymore.
• Sally Blane who plays Molly is the sister of Loretta Young. Blane was married to actor/director Norman Foster from 1935 until he died in 1976.
• The film was inspired by the song "Ten Cents a Dance" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

Click HERE to join the online discussion on July 29, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive a link and invitation to join the discussion on Zoom.

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

Discussion questions

1. What did you think of 25-year-old Stanwyck's performance? Did she seem convincing as a taxi dancer?
2. Were you surprised to learn that Lionel Barrymore was the film's director?
3. What did you think of Monroe Owsley as Stanwyck's husband Eddie?
4. Ricardo Cortez was promoted as a "Latin lover" early in his career. Did you like him as the rich businessman in this film? Was he convincing in his scenes with Stanwyck?
5. Did this film surprise you in any way?
6. Was the ending believable? Was it satisfying?

Ricardo Cortez and Barbara Stanwyck

Doris Day and James Stewart as “The Man Who Knew Too Much”

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) is an American mystery thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Other members of the cast include Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Daniel Gelin, and Hillary Brooke. This was a remake of Hitchcock’s 1934 film of The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Americans Dr. Benjamin “Ben” McKenna (Stewart) and popular singer Josephine “Jo” Conway (Day), and their young son Henry “Hank” McKenna are vacation in French Morocco when they meet a Frenchman Louis Bernard (Gelin). Jo is suspicious of him because of his prying questions and evasive answers.

When Bernard cancels a dinner date with Jo and Ben, only to see him arrive at the restaurant where they are sharing a meal with a friendly British couple Lucy (de Banzie) and Edward Drayton (Miles).

Who is Louis Bernard and what does he have to do with Jo, Ben, and their son Hank?

 

The Man Who Knew Too Much trivia

• Doris Day thought Hitchcock wasn’t pleased with her performance because she didn’t think he was directing her. She confronted the director and he said if she wasn’t giving him what he wanted, he would direct her. Hitchcock was very pleased with Day’s performance.
• Day didn’t wasn’t to record “Que Sera Sera” saying it was a forgettable children’s song. Day’s recording of the song was a huge hit, won an Academy Award, and became Day’s signature song.
• The movie was 37 days behind schedule and over budget.
• This was Stewart’s third collaboration with director Alfred Hitchcock.
• June Allyson, Lana Turner, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Jane Russell, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner were all considered for the role of Jo. Hitchcock saw Day in the film Storm Warning (1951) and he was convinced she had the acting chops for Jo.

 

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the online discussion on July 22, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an email invitation with a link to join the meeting on Zoom.

 

Doris Day and James Stewart

Discussion questions

1. If you saw the original 1934 version, which did you enjoy more?
2. Were Stewart and Day believable as a married couple?
3. Was Hitchcock right to trust his instincts in choosing Day for the role of Jo?
4. Did you have any sympathy for Lucy Drayton? Do you think she had any idea how far her husband would go regarding Henry?
5. Were the London locations a plus?
6. Did anything about the movie surprise you?

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger

Rope (1948) is an American crime thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, John Dall, and Farley Granger. Other members of the cast include Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Constance Collier, Douglas Dick, and Joan Chandler.

To young men, Brandon Shaw (Dall) and Philip Morgan (Granger) strangle a former classmate from prep school in what they think was the perfect murder. The Manhattan bachelors’ murder was inspired by conversations with their prep-school housemaster Rupert Cadell (Stewart) who taught them some concepts from Nietzsche’s writings about the superiority of certain individuals.

Brandon and Phillip are so brazen in their feelings of superiority that they have hidden the body of David Kentley (Dick Hogan) in a trunk in their dining room. Not only that, but the trunk is being used as a buffet during a party Brandon and Phillip are hosting.

Did Brandon and Phillip commit the “perfect crime?”

 

Farley Granger, James Stewart, and John Dall

Rope trivia

• This was Hitchcock’s first color movie.
• James Stewart was unhappy with the film and thought he was miscast.
• The movie was shot in ten takes, making it look like one continuous take.
• The film was loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case, a real-life murder committed by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.
• Cary Grant was Hitchcock’s first choice to play Rupert Cadell.
• James Stewart earned $300,000. The total budget for the film was $1.5 million dollars.

 

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

 

Click HERE to join the online discussion on July 15, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an email invitation with a link to join the meeting on Zoom.

 

Discussion questions

1. Some critics felt the “continuous take” filming was a distraction. Did it think it was a distraction? Did you even notice it?
2. James Stewart thought he was miscast; did you agree with him?
3. Did you have any sympathy for Brandon and Phillip?
4. What did you think of John Dall and Farley Granger as Brandon and Phillip? What did you think of their on-screen relationship.
5. Did anything about the film surprise you?

Barbara Stanwyck is “Stella Dallas”

Stella Dallas (1937) is an American drama film directed by King Vidor and starring Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, and Anne Shirley. Other members of the cast include Barbara O’Neil, Alan Hale, Marjorie Main, and Tim Holt. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Olive Higgins Prouty.

Growing up on the wrong side of the tracks, young Stella Martin (Stanwyck) manages to catch the eye of Stephen Dallas (John Boles), a well-bred business executive. The two fall in love and marry. For a time they’re happy, but after the birth of their daughter, Laurel (Anne Shirley), the marriage begins to deteriorate. Stella wants to dance and rub elbows with the upper-class folks at the country club. Stephen expects his wife to be content to stay at home with their child, a much quieter existence than the life Stella desires. They eventually divorce, with Stella having the main custody of Laurel. Stella is determined to give her daughter the things she never had, but when Stephen begins a new relationship, Stella feels her closeness with Laurel slipping away. Always putting her daughter’s happiness above her own, Stella faces a choice no mother should have to make.

Stanwyck received the first of her four Best Actress Oscar nominations for her role as Stella. Stanwyck was so determined to get the part that she submitted to a screen test—something unheard of for a star of her caliber. She convinced the director (King Vidor) and the producer (Samuel Goldwyn) that she could be convincing as a mother, especially as the character ages into midlife.

Anne Shirley, who turned 18 during the filming of Stella Dallas had this to say about Stanwyck: “She was prepared to the very top of her ability. Dialogue learned perfectly. Hair, clothes, energy ready.”

King Vidor (1894 - 1982) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter whose career successfully spanned the silent and sound era. His most famous and successful film from the silent era was The Big Parade (1925) starring John Gilbert. In the sound era, he directed Northwest Passage (1940), Comrade X (1940), and Duel in the Sun (1946). Considered an actor’s director, Wallace Berry, Robert Donat, Barbara Stanwyck, Jennifer Jones, Anne Shirley, and Lillian Gish all received Academy Award nominations under Vidor’s direction.

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

John Boles (1895 – 1969) was an actor and singer and a star of both silent and sound films. Boles is probably best known for playing Victor Moritz in Frankenstein (1931). Once sound pictures emerged, he starred in several popular musicals. He starred opposite Irene Dunne in Back Street (1932) and The Age of Innocence (1934). He starred with Shirley Temple in Curly Top and The Littlest Rebel both released in 1935. Once his film career ended, Boles went into the oil business.

Anne Shirley, John Boles, and Barbara Stanwyck

Anne Shirley (1993) began acting in silent movies when she was only four years old. She started out as Dawn O’Day, but when she portrayed Lucy Maud Montgomery’s heroine Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, she took that name for her own. Shirley progressed from child star to adult roles; she was one of many actresses who tested for the role of Melanie Hamilton in Gone With The Wind, eventually losing out to Olivia de Havilland. Her last starring role was in Murder, My Sweet (1944). After completing that film, she retired from acting at the age of 26. Shirley was married three times. Her first husband was the actor John Payne.

Stella Dallas trivia

• The movie’s popularity spanned a radio series that lasted for 18 years.
• For her role, Stanwyck bleached her hair and wore padding to appear heavier later in the film.
• Samuel Goldwyn wanted Ruth Chatterton to play Stella, but she turned it down.
• Barbara O’Neil made her screen debut in the film and received encouragement from Stanwyck. O’Neil said Stanwyck was “a marvelous, warm-hearted person…”

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube

Click HERE for to join the online discussion on July 8, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Was Stanwyck convincing in the role of Stella? Was she worthy of the Best Actress nomination?
2. Did the mother-daughter relationship between Stella and Laurel ring true?
3. What did you think of John Boles?  Could he have been more understanding of  his young wife?
4. Anne Shirley was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Did she give an Oscar-worthy performance?
5. The Best Actress Academy Award competition was pretty stiff the year Stanwyck was nominated. The other actresses in contention were Greta Garbo in Camille (co-starring Robert Taylor who was married to Stanwyck), Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth, Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born, the winner was Luise Rainer in The Good Earth. Did the Academy get it right?

Barbara Stanwyck is one of the “Ladies of Leisure”

Ladies of Leisure (1930) is a American pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Ralph Graves. Other members of the cast include Lowell Sherman and Marie Prevost.

Jerry Strong (Graves) the heir to a railroad tycoon and aspiring artist, sneaks out of a party thrown by his friend Bill Standish (Sherman) and meets a self-described “party girl” Kay Arnold (Stanwyck) who is also leaving a party aboard a yacht.

Jerry sees something special in Kay and hires her as the model for his painting “Hope.” As the two get to know each other Kay falls in love with Jerry. She regrets her past, knowing that his family will never approve of her.

Will Kay be able to live up to Jerry’s family’s expectations for their son or will Kay have to give him up and go back to her old life?

Barbara Stanwyck, Lowell Sherman, and Ralph Graves

Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director, producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 – 1990) was an American film star who got her acting start with a supporting role on Broadway in a play called The Noose (1926). The next year she had the lead in another Broadway production, Burlesque which was a huge hit. She eventually made it to Hollywood where her success was not immediate. Director Frank Capra saw something in Stanwyck and he educated her in filmmaking and film acting and the rest is history. Stanwyck was nominated four times for the Best Actress Oscar—Stella Dallas (1937), Ball of Fire (1941), Double Indemnity (1945), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)—and remains one of the most beloved movie stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Barbara Stanwyck and Marie Prevost

Ladies of Leisure trivia

• This was the first time Frank Capra directed Barbara Stanwyck.
• Stanwyck made several movies, all unsuccessful, and she was considering going back to Broadway but the film was a hit and it made her a star.
• Columbia studio head Harry Cohn gave Capra complete artistic control.
• This was Capra’s fifth talking picture although it was also released as a silent film for those theatres that hadn’t yet converted to sound. All-talking pictures had only become a reality a year before.
• Capra and Stanwyck would go on to work together on four more films including The Miracle Woman (1931) and Meet John Doe (1941).

 

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube

Click HEREHERE for to join the online discussion on July 1, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

I discovered a vital technical lack – one that shook us all up: Stanwyck gave her all the first time she tried a scene ... All subsequent repetitions, in rehearsals or retakes, were pale copies of her original performance. This was a new phenomenon – and a new challenge, not only to me, but to the actors and the crews. I had to rehearse the cast without her. The actors grumbled. Not fair to them, they said. Who ever heard of an actress not rehearsing? ... On the set I never let Stanwyck utter one word of the scene until the cameras were rolling. Before that I talked to her in her dressing room, told her the meaning of the scene, the points of emphasis, the pauses ... I talked softly, not wanting to fan the smoldering fires that lurked beneath that somber silence. She remembered every word I said – and she never blew a line.*

Discussion questions

1. This was a breakthrough film for Stanwyck. What did you think of her performance?
2. Could you see the potential in Stanwyck to be the star/actress she would become?
3. As an early talking picture, does it hold up in 2024?
4. Does this feel like your “typical” Capra movie?
5. Did anything about the film surprise you?

 

*Capra, Frank (1971). The Name Above the Title: An Autobiography. New York: Macmillan. pp 113-15.

Book Review: Forbidden Cocktails: Libations Inspired By The World Of Pre-Code Hollywood

Title: Forbidden Cocktails: Libations Inspired By The World Of Pre-Code Hollywood

By: Andre Darlington

Publisher: Running Press – Turner Classic Movies

ISBN: 978-0-7624-8520-8 (hardcover)

ISBN: 978-0-7624-8521-5 (ebook)

If you like cocktails, you’ll like this book. If you like pre-Code films, you’ll like this book. If you like cocktails and pre-Code films, you’ll love this book!

Andre Darlington has put together a unique collection of cocktail recipes based on some of the most famous pre-Code films from The Divorce (1930) to The Thin Man (1934).

The cocktails may be the hook, but there’s a lot of great information on the pre-Codes featured. I realized that I haven’t seen all the “classic” pre-Codes highlighted including Anybody’s Woman (1930) starring Ruth Chatterton and Paul Lukas, directed by Dorothy Arzner. Chatterton’s film career was at its peak during the pre-Code era.

The book is filled with beautiful photographs of classic movie stars, posters, and cocktails. Put this book on your coffee table and I bet it will generate some great conversation and maybe a bit of cocktail sampling!

The cocktail Passage to Paradise is based on the weepy One Way Passage (1932) starring William Powell and Kay Francis.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 ounces London Dry gin
• 1 ounce dry vermouth
• 1 bar spoon kirschwasser
• 1 dash orange bitters
• Orange peel, for garnish
• Cocktail olive, for garnish

Stir gin, dry vermouth, kirschwasser, and bitters with ice. Stain into a cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel and an olive.

Walther Huston is caught in Frank Capra’s “American Madness”

American Madness (1932) is a pre-Code drama film directed by Frank Capra and starring Walter Huston. Other members of the cast include Pat O’Brien, Kay Johnson, and Constance Cummings.

Tom Dickson (Huston) is the president of Union National Bank. The bank’s board is concerned that Dickson’s lending practices are too risky during the early years of the Great Depression.

When the bank is robbed, it causes a run and Dickson’s career and the banks survival are in Jeopardy.

Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director, producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

 

Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan which includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he debuted in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.

American Madness  trivia

• Frank Capra replaced Allan Dwan as director and started from scratch.
• Walter Huston was on loan from M-G-M.
• Capra modeled Walter Huton’s character after A. P. Giannini, the founder of the Bank of America.
• The film’s original title was Bank Story.
• American Madness is credited with helping to restore the public’s faith in the banking industry.
• This was the first collaboration between Capra and screenwriter Robert Riskin; American Madness was Riskin’s first original screenplay.

 

Click HEREHERE to watch the film on YouTube

Click HEREHERE for to join the online discussion on June 24, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

 

Sterling Holloway, Constance Cummings, and Pat O’Brien

Discussion questions

1. Did the film seem realistic to you?
2. Was Walter Huston convincing as the bank president?
3. What did you think of the pacing of the film? After only three years after the first all-talking pictures, American Madness seems fairly modern, especially when compared to other films from 1931. Do you agree?
4. Do you see some foreshadowing of future Capra movies? If so, which ones?
5. Did anything about the film surprise you?