Gene Tierney's Prime

This looks to be from Laura (1944), Gene Tierney's quintessential role. I love her sophisticated demeanor, arty surroundings, and lovely dress. Too often Gene was cast as the goody-goody girl next door and so we rarely got to see her do more against-type roles. Even Laura finds her as a nice girl. However, her Oscar-nominated role in Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and her performance in The Razor's Edge (1946) find Tierney in two of her most fascinating roles. In the former she's a complete psycho, and in the latter she's also a not-so-nice character. Tierney gets an undeserved bad rap as being an average actress at best, but Tierney needed more parts that required her to "stretch", and she was more than capable of taking on such challenges. She was on quite a roll from 1944-46 and is it any wonder her career stalled after this, given her staggering personal problems? Let's see: philandering weasel of a husband, her baby born with severe birth defects, mental and emotional instability in a time when mental health care was icy sheets and wide-awake shock treatments. Yeah, I'd say that Gene had a rough time of things. It's hard not to be a booster for an underdog of sorts, isn't it?

Gene Tierney, Behind the Scenes

Looks like I'm making this week Gene Tierney Appreciation Week! This photograph amazes me because Tierney is off screen with her hair up and still she looks like the Silver Screen Goddess that she always was. I've seen several of her films and watched the A&E Biography episode on her, Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait, but have yet to read up on her often miserable life and times. The documentary is available on the wonderful Laura DVD, which contains more extras than a single disc could possibly hold. As for Tierney's life, it turned out to be a happy ending of sorts for the tormented legend, but what a rough road she had to travel. Just when I thought all you beautiful people had it so easy...I've added Gene's official website to the sidebar, too.

Gene Tierney--Yowza!

I've missed posting, so I'm getting back into the swing of things and have started on a couple of pieces I've been wanting to yammer on about. In the meantime, seeing this color photo of Gene Tierney (with Cheetah friend) has me all abuzz. I won't call this "Photo of the Day", that's Millie's feature...

Unreleased DVD Mid-Term Progress Report

Be Grateful for Crumbs

Sheesh. I don't think the major studios are all that interested in releasing classic movies any more. Back in December, I posted my wishlist for my most sought-after classic films not yet on DVD. Seven months later and only one has been issued: Johnny Eager (1942), the film that made me realize Robert Taylor was a much better actor than he's given credit for. Van Heflin won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this film, as a sad, sympathetic drunken buddy of the Taylor's title character. The Warner Archive released the movie on its DV-R program, but I just never cottoned to the idea of paying a huge conglomerate $20.00 for a mere burn of a movie that costs them next to nothing to make the "regular" way. At least Turner Classic Movies has a few of my requested movies airing in the next few months, so if I even owned a recording device I could tape said films. But it just looks like we've entered an era of the new and the latest rather than catering to the niche market that classic film has become.

It wasn't that long ago that an Astaire-Rogers boxed set (two volumes!) or a Thin Man Collection would soar high in sales. Perhaps it's because there just aren't that many great films left to release? Now you know I don't believe that for a second. These gi-normous movie corporations could sell fire to the Devil if they put their marketing boys and girls to work on the job. So what gives? Why so few classic movies being released on DVD? Or more specifically, why aren't the movies *I* want being released? They must want to give bootleggers job security... Come to think of it, that's most gracious in these economically tough times.

How many of your unreleased DVDs have made it to disc this year? Which ones were they?