Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews in "The Ox-Bow Incident"

The Ox-Box Incident (1943) is an American western film directed by Wiliam A. Wellman, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, and an extraordinary supporting cast that includes Anthony Quinn, Harry Morgan, Mary Beth Hughes, and Jane Darwell. The film is based on the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark published in 1940.

Cowboys Art Croft (Harry Morgan) and Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) ride into Bridger's Wells, Nevada in 1885. Immediately the two are suspected of being cattle rustlers. While at Darby’s Saloon a man comes in and announces that rancher Larry Kinkaid has been murdered.

Almost immediately, a posse if formed lead by Major Tetley (Frank Conroy) and his son Gerald (William Eythe). Art and Gil, originally resistant to joining the posse do so in order to deflect suspicion from themselves.

The posse comes across Donald Martin (Dana Andrews); a Mexican, Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn); and an old man, Alva Hardwicke (Francis Ford). Martin is accused of killing Kinkaid and stealing his cattle by the posse. Martin claims that he purchased the cattle from Kinkaid but no one believes him. What will the posse do? Will Martin, Martinez, and Hardwicke receive justice at the hands of the posse?

Victor Killian, Henry Fonda, and Harry Morgan

William A. Wellman (1896 – 1975) was an American film director. He started his directorial career in silent films. Wellman directed Wings (1927) which was the first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 1st Academy Awards ceremony. Wellman directed two classic films released in 1937: Nothing Sacred and A Star is Born. Other important films directed by Wellman include Beau Geste (1939), Roxie Hart (1942), The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), Yellow Sky (1948), Battleground (1949), and The High and the Mighty (1954).

Henry Fonda (1905 –1982) was an American stage and film actor. Fonda came to Hollywood in 1935 and became a star overnight. Early starring roles include Jezebel (1938), Jesse James (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and The Grapes of Wrath (1940) for which he received his first Best Actor nomination for playing Tom Joad. Fonda played opposite Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve (1942), My Darling Clementine (1946), and Mister Roberts (1955). In 1981 he finally won the Best Actor Oscar for his role as Norman Thayer Jr. in On Golden Pond.

Dana Andrews (center)

Dana Andrews (1909 – 1992) was an American stage and film actor. During the 1940s, Andrews was a major star and leading man starring in Laura (1944), State Fair (1945), A Walk in the Sun (1945), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Canyon Passage (1946), Boomerang! (1947), and Daisy Kenyon (1947) co-starring Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda. During the 1950s, film roles were harder to come by, but he had success in Elephant Walk (1954) co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch, While the City Sleeps (1956), and Curse of the Demon (1957). In 1958 he replaced Henry Fonda on Broadway in Two for the Seesaw.


The Ox-Bow Incident Trivia 

• Henry Fonda considered this, along with The Grapes of Wrath as his two best films. 
• Completed in 1942, the film wasn’t released until 1943. 
• Clint Eastwood told the American Film Institute (AFI) that this was his favorite film. 
• Henry Fonda’s role was originally offered to Gary Cooper. 
• The film was a box office failure, but it was still nominated for Best Picture. 
• The opening scene in the saloon is almost identical to the one in Yellow Sky, also directed by William A. Wellman.
• Francis Ford who plays the old man Hardwicke was director John Ford’s older brother.

To watch to the movie on YouTube, click the link below. Be sure to use this link because there are other versions on this channel that are not of the same quality.



After you’ve watched the movie, join us for a discussion on Zoom September 1, 2020, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Zoom invitation and the link are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "The Ox-Bow Incident"
Time: Sep 1, 2020, 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78506166194?pwd=MGtuUDZVckRDcTl1VFpJN21aSmVOdz09

Meeting ID: 785 0616 6194
Passcode: 9wQ0G8


Questions for discussion:
1. Do you think the posse would have been organized without the Major’s leadership?
2. Why do you think Art and Gil join the posse? Is it out of fear or excitement?
3. What about the other men and “Ma?”
4. What did you think of Donald Martin’s (Dana Andrews) character? The old man Hardwicke (Ford), and Martinez (Anthony Quinn).
5. Arthur Davies (Harry Davenport) seemed to be sympathetic to Martin and his companions. What do you think his motivation was?
6. The way Henry Fonda is photographed reading Martin’s letter is quite unusual. Did you think it was effective? Would you have filmed it that way?

Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain learn that “People Will Talk”

People Will Talk (1951) is a romantic comedy written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starring Cary Grant and Jeanne Crain. The cinematography is by Milton Krasner who won an Academy Award for Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). He also did the cinematography for A Double Life (1947), House of Strangers (1949), and All About Eve (1950).

Jeanne Crain and Cary Grant

The plot centers around Dr. Noah Praetorious (Cary Grant), an unconventional doctor who teaches at a medical school, but also runs a clinic that treats patients in a holistic manner. Dr.Praetorious’s medical practices are at odds with Professor Elwell (Hume Cronyn) who is determined to remove Praetorius from the university faculty.

In the middle of all this enters Deborah Higgins (Jeanne Crain), a single young woman who discovers she is pregnant. Deborah is determined not to let her father (Sidney Blackmer) know of her situation. She takes some desperate action that brings her to the attention of Dr. Praetorious. And then there’s Dr. Praetorious’s mysterious constant companion, Mr. Shunderson.

Will Dr. Praetorious’s career and future be ruined and sullied by those who are jealous of his accomplishments and popularity with the student body?

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1929 – 1972) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz won Academy Awards for directing and writing A Letter to Three Wives (1949), and All About Eve (1950). He is the only director to win back-to-back Academy Awards for writing and directing. Other films directed by Mankiewicz include Dragonwyck (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Julius Caesar (1953), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and Guys and Dolls (1955). He directed the 1963 crisis-plagued production of Cleopatra which negatively affected his career as a director.

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Jeanne Crain (1925 – 2003) was an American actress whose career spanned more than three decades. While still a teenager, she was asked to take a screen test with Orson Welles. He was testing for the part of Lucy Morgan in his production of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She didn’t get the part (Anne Baxter did), but she was on her way. She had a bit part in The Gang’s All Here (1943), but had a leading role in Home in Indiana (1944). The film was a box office hit and Crain became a favorite of film fans everywhere. She had another hit with Winged Victory (1944) and co-starred with Dana Andrews in the musical State Fair (1945). That same year, she was the “good girl” opposite Gene Tierney’s “bad girl” in Leave Her to Heaven. More good roles came her way including leads in A Letter to Three Wives (1949), The Fan (1949), and Pinky (1949). The latter won her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. She lost that year to Olivia de Havilland. Crain’s popularity continued into the 1950s but suffered when she was released from her exclusive contract with 20th Century-Fox. She continued to work in films and on television until 1975.

People Will Talk has an excellent supporting cast that includes Finlay Currie, Hume Cronyn, Walter Slezak, and Margaret Hamilton.

People Will Talk Trivia:

• Jeanne Crain campaigned for the female lead, but the role went to Anne Baxter. When Baxter became pregnant, Crain played Deborah. The opposite happened with All About Eve. Crain was originally cast as Eve Harrington. When Crain became pregnant (Crain had seven children), Baxter got the role and screen immortality.
• Margaret Hamilton was uncredited in spite of the fact that she had a sizeable supporting role.
• Dr. Pretorius’s car is a 1951 Lincoln Cosmopolitan 2-door convertible. Only 857 convertibles were built that year. It cost $3891 (about $40,000 in 2020).
• Grant had his hand and footprints immortalized a Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the premiere of People Will Talk.

Below it the YouTube link to watch the film. Please us this link as there are several on the channel of inferior quality.



Join us August 25, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. for a discussion on Zoom. The invitation and link are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "People Will Talk"

Time: Aug 25, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74191376726?pwd=WVdHK2JVc25HWTNsbEx3REROWTVwQT09

Meeting ID: 741 9137 6726
Passcode: jAUD7h


Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of Dr. Praetorius and his medical philosophy?
2. What do you think drove Professor Elwell’s jealousy?
3. Do you think Dr. Praetorius was in love with Deborah when they married?
4. Would you like a “Mr. Shunderson” as a friend/companion?
5. Does Deborah’s plight hold up in the 21st century?

Carole Lombard and Jack Benny in Ernst Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not to Be”

To Be or Not to Be (1942) is a comedy directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Carole Lombard and Jack Benny

The film is set in Warsaw, Poland, before the 1939 Nazi invasion. Josef Tura (Jack Benny) and his stunningly beautiful wife Maria Tura (Carole Lombard) head a theater company that at the beginning of the film is rehearsing a play called Gestapo, a production making fun of the Nazis.

Table reading for To Be or Not to Be with director Ernst Lubitsch (top left), Carole Lombard, and Jack Benny. Lombard told her friends that this was the happiest film set she had ever worked on.

While Josef Tura is performing Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Poland is invaded and things change for the acting company which is now being watched closely by the Nazis. Can a troop filled with ham actors help the Polish resistance? Can they help bring down Hitler and the Nazis?

Ernst Lubitsch (1892 – 1947) was a German-born film director who became famous for his sophisticated comedies during the pre-code era. Silent film star Mary Pickford lured Lubitsch to Hollywood in 1922. He directed Pickford in Rosita, which was a huge, hit and cemented his reputation in Hollywood. Lubitsch’s films were so unique that they were described as having the “Lubitsch touch.” Some of Lubitsch’s classic films include Trouble in Paradise (1932), Design for Living (1933), Ninotchka (1939), The Shop Around the Corner (1940), Heaven Can Wait (1943), and Cluny Brown (1946). Lubitsch was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for his work in film.

Carole Lombard and Jack Benny

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was an American actress, well regarded for her many screwball comedy film roles. During the late 1930s, she was the highest-paid star in Hollywood. Lombard got her start in silent films as a child and set her mind on making movie acting her career. She was one of Mack Sennett’s bathing beauties, appearing in 15 of his comedy shorts before moving on to feature films. Her breakout performance came in 1934’s Twentieth Century co-starring John Barrymore. After that film, Lombard’s career soared. She starred in many successful comedies including Hands Across the Table (1935), My Man Godfrey (1936), which brought her a Best Actress Academy Award nomination, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941), and To Be or Not to Be (1942), her final film.

Jack Benny (1894 – 1974) was an American comedian who was a star on radio, film, and television. He was known for his comic timing and delivery, often with long pauses and facial expressions. He had the ability to make audiences laugh without uttering a single word. When he did utter his signature “Well,” it almost always brought the house down. Benny’s film career never matched that of his radio success, but he did star in several memorable films including Broadway Melody of 1936, Charley’s Aunt (1941), and George Washington Slept Here (1942). Benny was delighted to have had the opportunity to work under Lubitsch’s direction, someone the comedian greatly admired.

Robert Stack and Carole Lombard

The supporting cast of To Be or Not to Be is very strong. In includes a young Robert Stack, Feliz Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Sig Ruman, Tom Dugan, Charles Halton, Maude Eburne, and Miles Mander.

To Be or Not to Be Trivia:

• It was nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Werner R. Heymann
• Because Carole Lombard died in a plane crash after the film was completed, the line her character utters, “What can happen in a plane?” was cut in post-production.
• Jack Benny’s father left the movie theater when he saw his son wearing a Nazi uniform in the film.
• Miriam Hopkins was the original choice to play Maria Tura. She dropped out when she realized that Benny got all of the laughs.
• Benny told his friends that he considered this to be his best and only great film role.
• In lieu of her usual fee of $125,000, Lombard took a percentage of the film’s profits plus $75,000. Upon her death, widower, Clark Gable, received $57,307, Lombard’s share of the film’s profits.

Watch the film on YouTube by clicking the link below. Be sure to use this link because there are several versions of this film on the channel; this one is of the best quality.



After you’ve watched the film, join us for a discussion on August 18. 2020, at 6:30 p.m Central Time on Zoom. An invitation with links can be found below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "To Be or Not to Be"
Time: Aug 18, 2020, 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79809533453?pwd=RWNhM2N4RVNyVW8vQ0VKUTc2UlZWUT09

Meeting ID: 798 0953 3453
Passcode: hKy0FK


Questions for discussion:
1. What did you think of the film overall?
2. Did you find the satire of Nazis funny? Offensive?
3. What did you make of the relationship between Lombard and Benny’s characters? Were they believable as husband and wife? Actors?
4. Did anything about the film surprise you?
5. Was this a fitting film to be Lombard’s last?

Carole Lombard and Fredric March star in “Nothing Sacred”

Nothing Sacred (1937) is a screwball comedy film directed by William A. Wellman, produced by David O. Selznick, with a screenplay by Ben Hecht. Oscar Levant wrote the original music score.

New York newspaper reporter Wally Cook (March) was demoted to writing obituaries due to a scandal involving a phony African nobleman and a charity event in the nobleman’s honor. Wally begs his boss Oliver Stone (Walter Connolly) for a second chance.

Wally points out a story about Hazel Flagg (Carole Lombard), a young woman dying of radium poisoning. Wally convinces his boss that a story on the dying girl could boost the circulation of his paper the Morning Star. Wally is off to the fictional town of Warsaw, Vermont in pursuit of Hazel Flagg and her story. Wally meets Hazel and he invites her and her doctor to New York as guests of the paper. Unknown to Wally is the fact that Hazel isn’t dying of radium poisoning and that her original diagnosis was a mistake. Hazel anxious to leave the sleepy town of Warsaw for a trip to New York doesn’t let on that she’s not dying.

Will Hazel’s secret be found out and will Wally be sent back to writing obituaries once again?

William A. Wellman (1896 – 1975) got his start in the movies as an actor but decided he’d rather work behind the camera as a director. He directed his first picture in 1920. Seven years later, Wellman directed the World War I epic Wings. His other notable films in the sound era include The Public Enemy (1931), A Star Is Born (1937), Beau Geste (1939), and The Ox-Box Incident (1943).

Carole Lombard (1908 – 1942) was an American film actress best know for starring in a string of screwball comedies. So popular was she in the genre that Life magazine dubbed her “the screwball girl.” Lombard began her career in silent films, but her career was stalled when she was in a car accident that scarred her face. After the accident, she was dropped from her Fox Film Corporation contract. She underwent plastic surgery, which was relatively new at the time, hoping it would help jumpstart her career. The surgery was a success resulting in a minor scar that was hardly noticeable on screen. She made almost 40 films before her breakout role as Lily Garland opposite John Barrymore in Twentieth Century. Now a bona fide star, Lombard would be the highest-paid actor in Hollywood by the late 1930s. Lombard was Oscar-nominated for My Man Godfrey (1936) and starred in Alfred Hitchock’s only screwball comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. In 1939, Lombard married Clark Gable and the two were the most famous couple in Hollywood. Lombard died tragically in a plane crash on January 16, 1942. She was 33 years old. Her final film was the Ernst Lubitsch comedy To Be or Not to Be (1942) which was released after her death.

Frederic March (1897 – 1975) was an American actor of both stage and film. He started his career as an extra in silent movies and by 1926 he appeared on Broadway and by the end of the decade, he was in Hollywood. March was one of the most successful actors working in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) a role for which he won a Best Actor Oscar, Design for Living (1933), Les Miserbles (1935), Anna Karenina (1935) with Greta Garbo, and A Star is Born (1937) with Janet Gaynor. In the 1940s, March starred in I Married a Witch (1942) and The Best Years of Our Lives, which brought him his second Best Actor Oscar. March was also a major star on Broadway. He won Tony Awards for Best Actor for his performances in Years Ago (1947) and Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956).

Nothing Sacred is a who’s who of 1930s character actors including Charles Winninger, Walter Connolly, Sig Ruman, John Qualen, Hattie McDaniel, and Margaret Hamilton.

Nothing Sacred has a creative title sequence.

Nothing Sacred trivia:

• This was the first screwball comedy filmed in Technicolor and Lombard’s only color film. 
• Frank Fay who plays the master of ceremonies in the film was Barbara Stanwyck’s first husband. His film career was basically over at the time of the film’s release, but he went on to Broadway fame as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey (1944).
• The film was not a hit upon its release and recorded a loss of $400,000 at the box office.
• Lombard starred in True Confession (1937) with Fred MacMurray, the same year as Nothing Sacred. True Confession, almost forgotten today, was a huge box office success.

For more information on True Confession, which also starred John Barrymore, click here.

Fred MacMurray, Carole Lombard, and John Barrymore in True Confession

To watch the film, click on the YouTube link below. Please use this link because there are other versions that are on the channel that isn’t as good.



After you’ve watched the film, join us for a discussion on Zoom at 6:30 p.m. on August 11, 2020. The links for the Zoom meeting are below.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Nothing Sacred"
Time: Aug 11, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74847286053?pwd=aFdsaElXcEdqcmZHVGthMTE0aUJyUT09

Meeting ID: 748 4728 6053
Passcode: ck2W1Q


Questions for discussion:
1. Were you surprised to see such an old film in color? Did color add anything to the narrative?
2. What did you think of Carole Lombard’s performance?
3. What did you make of the town of Warsaw? Did you understand why Hazel wanted to leave it?
4. Was Frederic March convincing as a newspaperman?
5. Was there a message or meaning behind the comedy? If yes, what was the message?