Movie Blogs I Love, Part II

Back in March I posted a list of my favorite classic movie blogs. Since that time, I've had the pleasure of finding some more. I also want to include ones I inadvertently omitted the last time around! Most every one of these sites can be found on my sidebar, but I'd like to give them the spotlight.

NOTE: There are just so many great classic movie blogs out there that I feel terrible when I post a list like this--however long it may be--and neglect to mention someone's site. So take a look at the sidebar; I'm always adding to it.

Marx Brothers Council of Britain The very latest entry! Hope that cough gets better, Matthew. ;)

Carole & Co. One of the great classic movie sites out there. It's become my morning newspaper because of all its "latest" info on Carole Lombard.

Where Danger Lives A recent discovery for me. Named after a Robert Mitchum movie, this blog covers the Noir era in addition to many obscure 1940s and 1950s films.

Radiation Cinema Sci-Fi and B-Movies get the spotlight. Always a treat and as much fun as the cheesy movies themselves.

She Blogged By Night The blog's author, Stacia, has vinegar running through her veins--and she knows all the bad words! Great reading, with outstanding reviews and insight.

Movie Classics I couldn't help but notice how Wordpress bloggers seem so much more sophisticated than we Blogger dot com folk. Movie Classics is another sparkling example of that Wordpress brilliance.

Classic Maiden Like Kay Francis? Barbara Stanwyck? I sure do. The Maiden is out of Denmark and is a joy to read and learn from.

RetroHound! A collector of seemingly everything, the Hound dedicates a fair amount of space to film reviews, too.

Classicflix.com Blog The latest news on classic film and TV releases.

Classic Forever A breezy, refreshing blog with music. I make sure to read Millie's latest and so should you. She's also responsible for getting the song "Sometime in the Morning" stuck in my head!

Another Old Movie Blog My most recent discovery. A blog that covers the "classic and not-so classic films of the first half of the twentieth century."

Carole Lombard.org Great source for all things Carole. Great blog, I just hope this and Carole and Co. don't murder each other for Total Carole Blog Supremacy.

Sidewalk Crossings Part writer's diary, part movie blog. Deb's a Jerry Goldsmith fan like me, only more so.

Permission To Kill David covers the spy side of life and he does a great job with his movie reviews as well as spy-themed TV shows and music.

And there you have it. Part II. I'm sure I'll stumble upon more blogs that many of you probably already knew about...

I'm Over There--With Gail

Kate Gabrielle of the outstanding Silents and Talkies blog has graciously allowed me to go on (and on!) about Gail Patrick as a guest blogger today, so have a look, and check out Kate's fantastic artwork, too.

Replacing The Thin Man

A Man in Demand: Melvyn Douglas was chosen to play a Nick Charles-style detective in two potential film franchises in 1938.

I've written a few entries on what I refer to as the Husband and Wife Detective Team , so I was fortunate to find a book, Jon Tuska’s The Detective in Hollywood (1978) which covers the many movie series detectives popular in the 1930s and 40s. The book is noteworthy, despite its often cynical tone, for providing the interesting backstory on The Thin Man series and MGM’s desire to strike gold once again by pairing another onscreen couple in the hopes of replicating the William Powell-Myrna Loy electricity.

William Powell had a tremendous career year in 1936 (the best year any actor ever had), but 1937 found the actor dealing with life and death situations. In June, his fiancée Jean Harlow, 26, died of uremic poisoning. Shortly afterwards, Powell was diagnosed with colon cancer, which required surgery and radium treatments. He would not make a movie for the next two years. MGM, looking to keep the money rolling in, began searching for substitutes for another husband and wife detective team series. The move was seen by Metro as “insurance”, and as the author cynically notes:


"Metro announced to the trades that in view of Powell’s difficulties the next Thin Man picture would star a new team consisting of Virginia Bruce and Melvyn Douglas…Metro had been taking out insurance, looking for a new team that clicked like Powell and Loy. Not only were they concerned about Powell’s living long enough to make another picture, but Loy herself, who was quite difficult to get along with and anything but the perfect wife off-screen, was constantly after the studio to give her major star buildup like that of Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo."

So Suave: Melvyn Douglas looks characteristically dapper in 1938's "Arsene Lusin."

The first of these Thin Man substitutes featured Melvyn Douglas. In The previously-mentioned mystery-comedy, Fast Company (1938), Douglas and Florence Rice are rare-book dealers Joel and Garda Sloane, who become involved in a murder mystery after a rival book dealer is killed. Strangely enough, MGM recast the next two Fast movies, Fast and Loose (1939) with Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell and then that same year, Fast and Furious, with Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern as Joel and Garda.

Columbia pictures tried its own hand at grabbing some of that Thin Man action and tapped--you guessed it-- Melvyn Douglas as detective-turned-lawyer in 1938’s There’s Always a Woman, in which he and Joan Blondell played sleuthing couple Bill and Sally Reardon. Bill wants to give up detecting and return to his job at the district attorney’s office, but Sally is hired by a friend to determine if her fiancée is having an affair. Of course, a murder is committed, and both Bill and Sally are both on the case. An interesting aspect of the film is that Sally is the heart of the detective agency, and an equal partner in the firm. Heady stuff in 1938! An actress like Joan Blondell was just the sort of personality who could pull that off, too. However, the studios didn’t think so, because the sequel, 1939’s There’s That Woman Again, had Sally being played by Virginia Bruce. Melvyn Douglas was back as Bill Reardon, though. Apparently both MGM and Columbia believed that Douglas, who bore a passing resemblance to William Powell, was the man to be the “next” Nick Charles. I believe that while Douglas was a fantastic actor, the sometimes-broad comedy that Powell could do with ease was not Douglas’ forte. Douglas’ humor was dry, subtle, and sophisticated, whereas Powell, while all of those things, also brought a physical presence to his comedy that Douglas lacked.

Both the “Fast” and “Woman” series were scrapped. MGM and Columbia probably realized that William Powell could not be replaced. In the non-tormented, non-Noir detective racket, there’s Nick Charles and then there’s everyone else. No wonder the studios were scrambling like panicked schoolgirls when Powell was diagnosed with cancer. The Thin Man series was a huge moneymaking franchise and an unexpected success, to boot. The studio suits believed that they could replicate the Sleuthing Couple formula with some combination of their stable of stars and contract players, but it didn't happen. However, from the tragedy that was Jean Harlow’s death and the serious health problem that was colon cancer, The Dapper One would return to movies in 1939’s Another Thin Man, the trailer of which includes a “Welcome Back, Bill Powell!” banner written below Powell’s visage at ad’s end while accompanied by the strains of “Happy Days are Here Again.” There would be three more Thin Man movies: in 1941, 1944, and 1947. William Powell would live another forty-five years, happily married to his wife Diana Lewis (twenty-three years his junior) and live in blissful retirement in their Palm Springs home for nearly thirty years after walking away from films in 1955. Powell reportedly loved reading and watching TV in his mammoth bed, wearing his silk robe, and with an ever-present cocktail in hand; sounds like a happy ending worthy of Nick and Nora Charles.


As for those would-be Thin Man knock offs, they're best viewed today as amusing entries in the sleuthing couples sweepstakes, but when seen in the context of the 1930s, when desperate movie studios attempted to replace their biggest moneymaker in the detective genre, one can see that they're pale substitiutes compared to the superior films--and actor-- they were supposed to replace.

The Template: No one played suave, smooth, and silly like William Powell.

The Thin Man: Murder Over Cocktails

I just found this listed at Amazon and put in my order. The Thin Man: Murder Over Cocktails was published in November, 2008. I've been craving books like this, especially in light of my ongoing Husband & Wife Detectives obsession. Is it just me or are there few books being published about the Golden Age these days? I'll provide a detailed review of the book right after I'm done reading it. In the meantime, here's the blurb:


"The Thin Man films are one of the most highly regarded and successful series of films from Hollywood's classic era. This book looks at the people who populated the films, including full chapter profiles of its stars, William Powell and Myrna Loy, whose chemistry together was a huge reason for the success of the films. As Nick and Nora Charles they knocked the stereotypes of on-screen marriage out of the park and replaced the stiff and formal with fun and sexy. But not to be forgotten are the great character actors who added their own special magic to each and every film. Each chapter includes profiles of these actors as well as the creative teams behind the films. The book offers up detailed synopses of each of the films as well as behind-the-scenes anecdotes and trivia. If you love The Thin Man then this is the book for you!" 312pp. Bear Manor Media. Trade Paperback.