THE MONTIES: 1936 - My girl Carole gets a Montie...

Hey everyone, time for another round of the Monties...and the year is 1936. And for me that year was a pretty good one. So without further adieu, here we go.

BEST FILM

MODERN TIMES
LIBELED LADY
SAN FRANCISCO
THESE THREE
MY MAN GODFREY - WINNER
SWING TIME
AFTER THE THIN MAN
THEODORA GOES WILD
CAMILLE

This was a close call for me between My Man Godfrey and Theodora Goes Wild. But Godfrey edges out Theodora by a hair. Both are great films though

BEST DIRECTOR

GREGORY LACAVA - MY MAN GODFREY
WILLIAM WYLER - THESE THREE (WINNER)
FRANK CAPRA - MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN
CHARLES CHAPLIN - MODERN TIMES
W.S. VAN DYKE - SAN FRANCISCO

One of the few times my favorite film winner will not match up with the director. I just thought William Wyler did a magnificient job with These Three, which itself was an amazing film. Sorry Gregory.

BEST ACTOR

WILLIAM POWELL - MY MAN GODFREY
CHARLES CHAPLIN - MODERN TIMES (WINNER)
SPENCER TRACY - SAN FRANCISCO
GARY COOPER - MR. DEEDS
MELVYN DOUGLAS - THEODORA GOES WILD

Charlie Chaplin gives a masterful performance in this silent classic. No words are needed and he carries this film with all his considerable talents.

BEST ACTRESS

CAROLE LOMBARD - MY MAN GODFREY (WINNER)
IRENE DUNNE - THEODORA GOES WILD
PAULETTE GODDARD - MODERN TIMES
GRETA GARBO - CAMILLE
MIRIAM HOPKINS - THESE THREE

Everyone knows Carole is my favorite actress of all time and she was never better than in My Man Godfrey as scatterbrained socialite Irene Bullock. But Irene Dunne was close behind her with her wonderful turn as Theodora. Carole denies Miriam from winning back to back Monties. Miriam won the year before for Becky Sharp.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

MISCHA AUER - MY MAN GODFREY
WALTER BRENNAN - COME AND GET IT
JAMES STEWART - AFTER THE THIN MAN
JOEL MCCREA - THESE THREE
EUGENE PALLETTE - MY MAN GODFREY (WINNER)

Mischa Auer was pure comedy gold in My Man Godfrey but I kind of like Eugene Pallette more as the put upon father of the Bulloch household.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

GALE SONDERGAARD - ANTHONY ADVERSE
ALICE BRADY - MY MAN GODFREY
LUCILLE BALL - FOLLOW THE FLEET
BONITA GRANVILLE - THESE THREE
GAIL PATRICK - MY MAN GODFREY (WINNER)

Gail was perfect as the icy sister of Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. I was surprised that she didn't even receive an actual Oscar nomination. Well she gets a Montie from me and that gives My Man Godfrey four awards, including three of the four acting categories of my Monties. SWEET!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from Gail Patrick...

Great Pics Of Gail Patrick

The Underrated Gail Patrick

I need to post my Top 20 actresses ASAP but until I finish tweaking it, I wanted to write a post about one of the most underrated actresses of all time...the lovely and very talented Gail Patrick. Born in 1911 as Margaret LaVelle Fitzpatrick in Alabama, She received a B.A. and was a dean of women at her alma mater, Howard College, for a time. She was studying pre-law at the University of Alabama at the time she, by happenstance, became a finalist in a nationwide contest for a Paramount film role (which she did not get). This led her to going to Hollywood and, despite her loss, the studio wound up offering her a studio contract at $50 a week.

Gail appeared in a lot films early in her career including Death Takes A Holiday (1934), Mississippi (1935), and Early To Bed (1936). Just making her way along until she finally secured a notable role in a great film. It was My Man Godfrey (1936) with Carole Lombard and William Powell, with Gail cast as Carole's spoiled sister. Gail held her own in this marvelous screwball classic and she would add two more certifiable screwball classics: 1937's Stage Door, trading wisecracks with Ginger Rogers and 1940's My Favorite Wife as Cary Grant's second wife who had to deal with the unexpected return of Cary's presumed dead first wife, Irene Dunne. So if Gail didn't do anything else in her film career, she could say she starred in these three all time comedy classics.

Gail would wind up making over 60 films before retiring in 1947 and after a stint designing clothes, she was an executive producer on one of the most successful TV shows ever made, Perry Mason. How's that for post film career success. Gail would marry four times and was also a diabetic.

She is one of my favorite actresses of all time and she ranks pretty high on my top actress list, which you will see once I finally post it. But I'm sure most classic movie lovers have seen her before..definitely in one of those three classics mentioned above. She was very talented and beautiful and could handle the on screen antics of screwball comedies very well. I dedicate this blog to Gail who was a class act.