Mr & Mrs Smith Mar 7, 2008
This story of two assassins for hire who are commissioned to kill each other had the potential of a 1930s screwball comedy - think Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve or Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby - with a modern twist and a harder edge. But after an OK opening in Bogota when the couple meet, the film becomes listless and often silly. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
New on DVD: Go 'Wild' for Sean Penn's moving film Mar 7, 2008
Nurse Barbara Stanwyck exposes a dipso child poisoner in Night Nurse (1931). And a female auto exec beckons sex by tossing a pillow on the floor (1933's Female). (USA Today -- Life)
Forever hunky Feb 19, 2008
For women the path was rockier and generally shorter, and only the strong, like Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck, survived. But these careers reflected a time of different demographics, when movies possessed a nearly universal appeal. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Spark snuffed by hopeless romantics Feb 15, 2008
The actresses are spunky and sweet, but lacking in the vinegar that made Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve or Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night so definitively sexy. The romantic comedy leading men of today are the kind of nice guy whom these earlier heroines would have triumphed by rejecting. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The 800-lb. Golden Gorilla Feb 15, 2008
If this year's nominated actors want to join the exalted ranks of Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Cary Grant, Peter O'Toole and Barbara Stanwyck, they'd better hope they lose, since none of these luminaries received a competitive Oscar. So is the Academy Award a long-term guarantee of a film's quality, a leading indicator of acting excellence. (Time.com)
* Good-time Charlie's foreign affairs Feb 6, 2008
Julia Roberts, as golden as an Oscar statue, incarnates Herring as if paying tribute at once to Barbara Stanwyck and to the legions of anonymous Julia Roberts impersonators toiling in drag clubs across the land. I mean this entirely as praise: Not many movie stars have the wit or the moxie to embrace the camp elements of their own personas. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* No love for the romantic comedy Feb 1, 2008
The actresses are spunky and sweet, but lacking in the vinegar that made Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve or Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night so definitively sexy. Those ladies were not always nice, and neither were their gentleman counterparts, who could be sarcastic, brutish and domineering when the mood struck. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
Ocean liners are often vehicles for filmmakers' tales Jan 31, 2008
THE LADY EVE (1941): One of the great screwball comedies and perhaps my favorite Preston Sturges film, The Lady Eve stars Henry Fonda as a wealthy young man who is the target of a shrewd and beautiful con artist (Barbara Stanwyck) while on a cruise. Driven by both dialogue and constantly turning tables, Eve is as sharp and smart today as it was more than 60 years ago. (The Augusta Chronicle)
Newspapers have always headlined Hollywood's best works Jan 6, 2008
Meet John Doe (1941) When reporter Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired, she angrily writes a piece about an idealist named John Doe, the Average Joe who is pushed around by everyone above him. In a Mitchell-written letter to the paper, Doe says he'll leap from City Hall on Christmas Eve. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
MOVIES: 'P.S. I Love You': An old-fashioned weepie, for better and for worse Jan 5, 2008
Like some of the greatest sob sisters of the big screen - think of Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford - she has a kind of working-class toughness bordering on hardness that makes the eventual cracks in her armature all the more effective. Unlike Stanwyck and Crawford, though, Swank can come across as intensely, almost desperately eager to please, which invests her with tremulous pathos or makes you feel embarrassed on her behalf. (International Herald Tribune)
10 great movies that need to be on DVD — now Jan 4, 2008
Not on DVD: All I Desire (1953; Barbara Stanwyck as a wayward actress mom) and There's Always Tomorrow (1956; Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, a male-point-of-view soap). Also: Magnificent Obsession (1954; Jane Wyman Oscar nomination) and The Tarnished Angels (1958, some say the best William Faulkner screen adaptation). (USA Today -- Life)
test your Christmas movie smarts Dec 23, 2007
In the Barbara Stanwyck movie "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945), what does Felix (S.Z. Sakall) have to say about a certain expensive fur garment. 5. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Movie Review: "Charlie Wilson's War" Dec 21, 2007
Julia Roberts, as golden as an Oscar statue, incarnates Herring as if paying tribute at once to Barbara Stanwyck and to the legions of anonymous Julia Roberts impersonators toiling in drag clubs across the land. I mean this entirely as praise: Not many movie stars have the wit or the moxie to embrace the camp elements of their own personas, and the character is clearly something of a performer in her own right. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Holiday movies: Our critics have made a list and checked it twice Dec 19, 2007
A freshly fired newspaper reporter (Barbara Stanwyck) concocts the story of a John Doe who's threatening to jump off the roof of city hall on Christmas Eve ... This time we've got Barbara Stanwyck as a proto Martha Stewart (she's well-heeled, writes for a housekeeping magazine, and supposedly lives on a Connecticut farm) whose publisher wants her to have a soldier (Dennis Morgan) live on that farm ... "REMEMBER THE NIGHT" (1940) A little-known gem in which Barbara Stanwyck plays a shoplifter... (Boston Globe)
New on DVD: 'Ratatouille' is a sumptuous treat Nov 9, 2007
And an all-star cast including William Holden, Fredric March, Barbara Stanwyck and June Allyson lifts Executive Suite ... Both are tops, and superb all-star casting also enables Barbara Stanwyck to go into big-scene hysterics. (USA Today -- Life)
NBC deals salon an unkind cut Sep 27, 2007
There are TV stars Lucy Lawless and Delta Burke as well as film veteran Barbara Stanwyck and singer Barry Manilow in a very 1980s hairdo. There is even a head shot of Lassie. (Los Angeles Times)
The Reel Queens: Moving Image lays out Fritz Lang's dark vision Sep 14, 2007
With Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe. A moody love triangle that ignites when a married city woman falls for an impulsive film projectionist. (Forest Hills Ledger, NY)
Rally Fizzles Sep 11, 2007
And who will get schooled by Barbara Stanwyck. TCM, 6:15 p.m.. (SmartMoney)
Columbia films missing from the vaults Sep 7, 2007
"The Member of the Wedding" (1952): Though I'd like to see several Columbia films again for the pleasure of specific performances, including Kim Stanley in "The Goddess" (1958) and William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck and Lee J. Cobb in "Golden Boy" (1939), what I'd really like to see on DVD is Fred Zinnemann's lyrical movie of this Carson McCullers play, with singular performances by Julie Harris, Ethel Waters and Brandon de Wilde, all members of the original Broadway cast ... "The Bitter Tea of... (Variety)
The week's best films Sep 4, 2007
Which accounts for glamorous mum Barbara Stanwyck being on board with her two children, having done a runner from husband Clifton Webb. Robert Wagner bobs up too. (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
New home for historic films and broadcasts Aug 31, 2007
Movies Restaurants Food Events Music Theater/Arts TV Books Celebrity news Games. I'm rediscovering film history through material that's been unseen for decades," says Gregory Lukow, chief of the library's motion picture, broadcasting, and recorded sound division.By January, the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center will open to scholars for research. Its 45-acre campus sits aside Pony Mountain near Culpeper, an hour away from Washington, D.C.The audiovisual collection holds copies of the... (Boston Globe -- Living)
Film loses its feminine touch Aug 28, 2007
For film stars to migrate to television isn't new -- Barbara Stanwyck starred in "The Big Valley" -- but for so many to be moving over so young is rather astonishing. Challenging roles for women over 40 have been few and far between since Joan and Bette faced off at the box office, but now, with blockbusters and male-oriented sex comedies ruling the big screen, women under 40 are having a hard time. (Los Angeles Times)
Television movies for the week of August 26 Aug 26, 2007
TV Movies: August 26-September 1. G = General audiences PG = Parental Guidance PG-13 = Not recommended for preteens R = Restricted audience. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Oh, yeah, women wield power Aug 24, 2007
30-day news archives. " Mildred Pierce: Joan Crawford plays a beleaguered single businesswoman of the 1940s in "Mildred Pierce. (Florida Today)
Lead actress brightens Lamb's 'Susan and God' Aug 23, 2007
In fact, she's the kind of juicy, evil villainess role that actresses like Crawford, Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck would've scratched each other's eyes out for. But somehow, Zimmerman makes her likable. (North County Times)
MFA showcases Italian actresses Aug 12, 2007
Also at the Brattle, the Barbara Stanwyck series continues on Tuesday with a double feature of Preston Sturges's "The Lady Eve" and Leigh Jason's "The Mad Miss Manton.". And the first episodes of the hit Israeli television show "In Treatment," a drama about folks in psychotherapy, are back at the MFA on Thursday at 6 p.m. (episodes 1 and 2) and 8 p.m. (episodes 3, 4, and 5). (Boston Globe -- Living)
Playboy era revived in a feast for the senses Aug 1, 2007
It's one of the reasons Biller generally avoids contemporary films, preferring to indulge in the movies of old with their strong female leads, such as Barbara Stanwyck and Mae West women who were witty, sexy and powerful, and who could teach a thing or two to the flimsy Parises, Poshes and Lindsay Lohans of the world. Viva screens at the Forum on Friday at 4. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Appreciation of Stanwyck is spot on Jul 22, 2007
I read Mark Feeney's wonderful appreciation of Barbara Stanwyck ("Positively the same dame!" Arts & Entertainment, July 15 ). I enjoy her work and fortunately it is available to watch. (Boston Globe)
Boy Gets Girl recalls film noir's thrillers Jul 21, 2007
It would not be surprising to see someone like Veronica Lake or Barbara Stanwyck or Ida Lupino walk out on the Barn Theater stage. Instead, here comes Carey, and, frankly, that's more than okay with me. (Hillsdale Independent, NY)
Travolta's Latest Comeback Jul 20, 2007
He mentions Barbara Stanwyck, who played the toughest, smartest broads of the '30s and '40s and who received an honorary Oscar in 1982, presented by Travolta. "If you'd met Stanwyck," he explains, "she would have crushed you with her ability to adore and adorn you, almost like a Southern belle." Then, to the journalist he's met only an hour before, Travolta says, "Stand up." When a movie star of three decades' eminence tells me to rise, I obey, and I'm now facing Travolta, nearly nose to nose. (Time.com)
'Positively the same dame!' Jul 15, 2007
There's a moment in "Ball of Fire" (1941) that gives Barbara Stanwyck her due ... Barbara Stanwyck, which sounds like a minor Edith Wharton character, was born Ruby Stevens: commonplace surname preceded by a jewel ... It took a lot to scare Barbara Stanwyck. (Boston Globe -- Living)
CHARLES LANE: 1905-2007Actor made major impact in minor roles Jul 12, 2007
" He is in one scene, as a society reporter, but the scene is significant. For the whole beginning of the film, a mystery is made as to the true background of Dick Powell, who plays a songwriter. Now at a Broadway opening, Lane spots him, thinks he recognizes him and tells his friends during intermission. That's Lane's whole role, a small one -- but he nails it. We know, from just a few lines from Lane, that this reporter is smart and tenacious, and that he's not going to quit until he finds out... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Summer Events Chicago Illinois Jul 8, 2007
July 24: Double Indemnity stars Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, 1944. July 31: Written on the Wind stars Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Dorothy Malone and Robert Stack. (Suite101.com)
What's on your top 10 movies list? Jun 30, 2007
It's a Wonderful Life The Wizard of Oz A Hard Day's Night Close Encounters of the Third Kind Stella Dallas (with Barbara Stanwyck) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Gone With the Wind The Green Mile Shawshank Redemption Kentucky Fried Movie (guilty cheap laffs). Sent by Jean Mank | 7:27 PM ET | 06-25-2007. (NPR)
This Week in Entertainment History: 1/16/16 - 1/22/06 Jun 27, 2007
In 1990, actress Barbara Stanwyck, known for her role on "The Big Valley," died of heart failure. She was 82. (KWTX.com, TX)
This angel is fantasy, but not a pleasure Jun 8, 2007
Barbara Stanwyck in her prime might have made more sense. In any case, this Angela doesn't behave like other angels before her -- Audrey Hepburn , perhaps, or Della Reese. (Boston Globe)
Is George Clooney the new Cary Grant? Jun 3, 2007
We may note that Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Laurence Olivier and John Wayne were all born in 1907. Take the first decade of the 20th century, and nearly every "great star" was born in that span. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Iconic director Sam Fuller featured at Moving Image May 26, 2007
With Barbara Stanwyck. When: May 26 and 27, 6:30 p.m.. (Fresh Meadows Times, NY)
Palm Springs Film Noir Festival ~ Femme fatales, anti-heroes to patter snappily in dim light May 24, 2007
Femme fatales: Rita Hayworth ("Gilda"), Barbara Stanwyck ("Double Indemnity"), Rhonda Fleming ("While the City Sleeps"), Gene Tierney ("Laura"), Jane Russell ("His Kind of Woman") and Jane Greer ("Out of the Past"). Anti-heroes: Humphrey Bogart ("The Maltese Falcon"), Dick Powell ("Pitfall"), Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum ("Out of the Past") and Fred MacMurray ("Double Indemnity"). (Desert Entertainer, CA)
Armchair Cinephile May 23, 2007
Directed by the genius behind the aforementioned Scarface and Rio Bravo, this screwball romance pits a professorial Cooper against the streetwise Barbara Stanwyck. Guess who comes out looking smarter. (San Antonio Current, TX)
Legendary actress defined 'classy' May 12, 2007
Robert Osborne, the channel's host, believes her appeal came from "her class and her oddity and her uniqueness. She was a wonderful role model for women, being independent, being her own person. She was one of those like Bette Davis, like Barbara Stanwyck -- she gave license to women to be independent. I think that's one of the great things she did."That was a different era then," he added. "Even common farm women wanted to be classy ... "She didn't have the range of roles Bette Davis or Barbara... (CNN)
What to watch this weekend May 11, 2007
Or, for those looking for a good Mother's Day cry, there's TCM's Stella Dallas (10 ET/7 PT) the Barbara Stanwyck original, thank heavens, not the Bette Midler remake which is one of the greatest soapers of them all. Posted. (USA Today -- Life)
Celebrate Kate Hepburns 100th birthday May 10, 2007
She was one of those like Bette Davis, like Barbara Stanwyck she gave license to women to be independent. I think thats one of the great things she did. (MSNBC -- Movies)
As her 100th birthday approaches Katharine Hepburn still fascinates May 10, 2007
She was one of those like Bette Davis, like Barbara Stanwyck she gave license to women to be independent ... She didn t have the range of roles Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck did, or Meryl Streep, Mann added. (KHOU.com, TX)
Landry's 'Milkman' delivers lusty laughs May 5, 2007
"Indemnity" star Barbara Stanwyck was subtle by comparison, and Lana Turner downright bland in "Postman." Striking panting poses, back arched against the proscenium, or seductively twitching her skirt as she paces and plots, Champayne's Maxine is the ultimate femme fatale, for whom multiple murders are mere foreplay. Tony's beloved Mama -- auteur Landry himself, beehived, be-moled, and pretty much limited to a vocabulary of "Prego," with some choice exceptions -- is clearly living on borrowed... (Boston Globe -- Living)
Axel Madsen, 76, biographer of Hollywood celebrities May 1, 2007
LOS ANGELES -- Axel Madsen, a prolific writer best known for his richly detailed biographies of Hollywood celebrities, fashion pioneers, and business titans including Barbara Stanwyck, Coco Chanel, and John Jacob Astor, has died. He was 76. (Boston Globe)
Axel Madsen, 76; writer chronicled the lives of celebrities, business giants Apr 29, 2007
By Claire Noland, Times Staff Writer April 29, 2007 Axel Madsen, a prolific writer best known for his richly detailed biographies of Hollywood celebrities, fashion pioneers and business titans including Barbara Stanwyck, Coco Chanel and John Jacob Astor, has died. He was 76. (Los Angeles Times)
Radio theater premiers at college Apr 20, 2007
Although Agnes Moorehead read for the radio show, Barbara Stanwyck took over the part in the 1948 movie and earned an Academy Award nomination. Airing from 1947 to 1949, "Quiet, Please!" was a series presented by the Mutual Broadcasting System until it moved to ABC Radio. (Sioux City Journal)
Film Review: In 'Lonely Hearts,' crimes' visceral side trumps the melacholic Apr 20, 2007
But as fictional characters in a movie that is fetishistic in its attention to period detail, Mr. Leto and Ms. Hayek work well together as an unsavory couple two rungs down the social ladder from Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity." Ms. Hayek's Martha, a victim of childhood incest who begins as one of Ray's marks and becomes his dominating, fiercely possessive lover, is a scary sociopath whose twisted sense of self-esteem derives from the power she exerts over him. That... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
GOOD BI TO ALL THAT Apr 19, 2007
April 19, 2007 -- 'INCLUDE Me Out," the new autobiography of Farley Granger, the preternaturally handsome star of Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" and "Strangers on a Train," borrows its title from a famous malapropism by Granger's old boss, producer Sam Goldwyn. Granger, a Hollywood star of the late '40s and early '50s who will be appearing Monday night at Film Forum to discuss his book and his career, bought out his contract with Goldwyn so he could pursue a career on Broadway. But the title also... (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Berry shines in 'Perfect Stranger' Apr 14, 2007
" Really, it's just a competent and fairly satisfying thriller. But look at it instead for the acting values that Berry brings to it -- the shadings and details that work in the moment and become even more satisfying in retrospect. This is a shrewd, intelligent and captivating performance. Berry has the gift of anger. She also has the gift of seeming justified when she's angry (something that Barbara Stanwyck had, for example, and that Julia Roberts, alas, does not). Her sense of moral outrage... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Granger tells of bisexual past Apr 13, 2007
And would he escort Barbara Stanwyck, newly divorced from Robert Taylor. Of course. (AZCentral -- Entertainment)
Awkward customer Mar 30, 2007
She was very striking in both, very Viennese in her training and diction, and she was Acting with a capital A. In those days, apparently, that was enough to let voters forget the more professional virtues of Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey, Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth, Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas or even Garbo in Camille. Those four still break your heart; Rainer looks like a porcelain figurine. (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
Jane Fonda looks back Mar 30, 2007
Fonda, who is 69, offers fond reminiscences of co-stars Robert Redford, Gregory Peck ("the perfect man"), Lee Marvin, Barbara Stanwyck ("fabulous"), Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. In the strongest segments, Fonda discusses the Academy Awards, On Golden Pond and her father, screen legend Henry Fonda. (Orlando Sentinel)
Meeting 'John Doe' kind of a letdown Mar 27, 2007
You may remember the sparks flying between Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck in the movie version. On the verge of being pink-slipped, Ann bangs out a column about John Doe, an Everyman so fed up with the sorry state of America that, in protest, he vows to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge on Christmas Eve. (Washington Times)
Herman Stein, 91; horror film composer Mar 25, 2007
Beginning with his first composing assignment for the Ozzie and Harriet Nelson comedy "Here Come the Nelsons" Stein wrote scores for every film genre, including an Audie Murphy western, an Abbott and Costello comedy and a Barbara Stanwyck drama. He also wrote music for the Ma and Pa Kettle and Francis the Talking Mule film series. (Los Angeles Times)
Noir America: Mar 15, 2007
Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Trevor, Jane Greer, and Peggy Cummins are each but separately the brilliant stars of Double Indemnity; Murder, My Sweet; Out of the Past; and Gun Crazy. They are the essential film noir amalgamations of Eve, Salome, and Carmen: there to bring men down through the pulsating syncopations of their glistening orifices. (Slate)
A force in films, Fisher turns to classic movies Mar 11, 2007
She is happy there are two Barbara Stanwyck films -- Ball of Fire and Sorry, Wrong Number -- in the series. "She's fantastic," Fisher says. (Orlando Sentinel)
SUZANNE FIELDS: Moving away from make-believe Mar 5, 2007
The days of the divas, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck, have vanished. (Meryl Streep still has a reasonable facsimile of their aura. (Washington Times)
No Blake, but still plenty to fight about Mar 4, 2007
"I'm just lucky that Barbara Stanwyck was my mentor on [the 1960s TV show] 'The Big Valley.' She'd tell me to show up, learn my lines, and be a professional, and it has served me well. I struggled for months because I wanted so badly to rise to the occasion on stage.". Collins is correct when she obverses that the two have little in common. (Boston Globe -- Living)
PAUL KENGOR: How Hollywood produced a president Feb 19, 2007
Believe it or not, the motion picture industry even had its share of conservative Republicans: Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Glenn Ford, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert, to name a few. Once Hollywood even produced a president. (Washington Times)
Preston Sturges revisited Feb 15, 2007
At the very least it's helpful to know that the Paramount series began with a trio of hits, culminating in "The Lady Eve." Arguably the wittiest of all Hollywood romantic farces, it glorified fortune hunter Barbara Stanwyck in the process of twice seducing Henry Fonda, a wealthy sap who needs all her cleverness and dedication to rectify misunderstandings. The studio expected the farcical-harrowing split personality of "Sullivan's Travels" to catch the public off-guard, and it did. (Washington Times, DC)
Movies To Hit The Love Spot Feb 11, 2007
"That's why," he says, "my favorite of all time is 'The Lady Eve' (1941), where Henry Fonda learns that Barbara Stanwyck is a skank, but she tricks him and he falls in love again. You learn that they are never as great as you think but not as bad as you think, either. We're all just human.". Another favorite is "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (1991), in which Juliet Stevenson is so in love with Alan Rickman that he comes back, and Schwarzbaum says "she does one of the greatest crying scenes of all... (CBS News)
* Too many movies packed into 'The Holiday' Feb 9, 2007
" But Meyers, whose ambitions are telegraphed by her film's title, which directly invokes George Cukor's lovely 1938 romp Holiday, has created a cumbersome vehicle by saddling Iris with a flamboyantly glamorous Los Angeles double, Amanda. As played by Cameron Diaz with oodles of charm and not an ounce of persuasion, Amanda doesn't as much mirror Iris's love troubles as throw them into wincing relief. On the brink of Christmas, these two strangers trade homes for The Holidays and land smack in... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Featured TV DVD Release: 'The Big Valley' Feb 9, 2007
Victoria Barkley (Barbara Stanwyck) is one tough mama as the matriarch. Victoria has two quite different sons: steady lawyer Jarrod (Richard Long) and goofy but likable Nick (Peter Breck). (Orlando Sentinel -- Entertainment)
