ALL GOOD THINGS

Talking about movies, movies, movies. I believe movies are one of the best pleasures in life. Nothing better than watching a classic film and talking with others about them. Love the classics the most but will also talk about the newer stuff too. And covering all genres: comedy, action, horror, sci-fi, drama, musicals, etc. Will also discuss TV shows, more of the classics, but occasionally the newer stuff too. And anything else that might be on my mind. Feel free to drop by and have a chat.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

The second set of first round matches for the 30's era begins right now....and runs through Saturday afternoon.

FUNNY LADIES

1 CAROLE LOMBARD
Tourney Record (8-3)

VS

8 MARGARET DUMONT
Tourney Record (0-1)

**************************

4 JEAN HARLOW
Tourney Record (1-3)

VS

5 MARGARET SULLAVAN
Tourney Record (0-1)

**************************

3 JEAN ARTHUR
Tourney Record (1-2)

VS

6 UNA MERKEL
Tourney Record (0-0)

************************
2 MYRNA LOY
Tourney Record (4-2)

VS

7 THELMA TODD
Tourney Record (0-0)

**************************************
SINGERS/DANCERS
1 SHIRLEY TEMPLE
Tourney Record (0-1)

VS

8 BEBE DANIELS
Tourney Record (0-0)

***********************

4 ELEANOR POWELL
Tourney Record (0-0)

VS

5 LUISE RAINER
Tourney Record (0-1)

***********************************

3 MAE WEST
Tourney Record (0-1)

VS

6 RUBY KEELER
Tourney Record (0-1)

*******************************

2 JEANETTE MACDONALD
Tourney Record (1-1)

VS

7 JOAN BLONDELL
Tourney Record (0-1)

First matches are done...and we have a few surprises

The first round is halfway done as two of the four categories are done. Not too many upsets occurred but there were a few. There were some close calls and then there were sere outright blow-outs. Here's the complete rundown of all the matches in all four eras.

1930'S ERA

BARBARA STANWYCK 43-7 over MIRIAM HOPKINS (disqualification)
CLAUDETTE COLBERT 61-42 over JOAN CRAWFORD
MARLENE DIETRICH 54-51 over ANN DVORAK
NORMA SHEARER 51-48 over GLENDA FARRELL
GRETA GARBO 60-32 over DOLORES DEL RIO
KAY FRANCIS 54-32 over LOUISE BROOKS
GLORIA SWANSON 46-45 over CLARA BOW
LILLIAN GISH 56-37 over MARY PICKFORD

One mild upset occurred when first time tourney competitor Kay Francis (5th seed) beat 4th seed Louise Brooks and beat her quite convincingly. Claudette Colbert throttled last year's sweet sixteen finalist Joan Crawford. Newcomers Ann Dvorak and Glenda Farrell did extremely well in their maiden tourney losing by only a combined 6 votes. And Gloria Swanson had to fight off a game Clara Bow to win by a single vote.

1940'S ERA

BETTE DAVIS 55-4 over JANE WYMAN
VIVIEN LEIGH 49-15 over JOAN FONTAINE
INGRID BERGMAN 45-14 over GREER GARSON
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND 43-25 over KATHARINE HEPBURN
JUDY GARLAND 51-8 over MARGARET O'BRIEN
ANN MILLER 37-28 over DONNA REED
TERESA WRIGHT 43-10 over JUNE ALLYSON
VIRIGINA MAYO 35-27 over JEANNE CRAIN

Another mild upset occurred as 5th seed Olivia de Havilland knocked off the great Kate Hepburn 43-25 with a most impressive win. I personally don't view it as an upset as Olivia is just as loved as Kate and has a huge fanbase of her own. Final four finalist from last year Judy Garland just steamrolled Margaret O'Brien. Bette Davis started her run with an equally impressive blow-out win over Jane Wyman, by a nearly 50 vote margin. The most interesting match of this era had to been between Mayo and Crain as they were tied for most of the time and then traded leads back and forth until Mayo finally pulled away.

1950'S ERA

Audrey Hepburn 55-0 over Pier Angeli

Deborah Kerr 48-7 over Jean Peters

Anne Francis 26-25 pver Sophia Loren

Janet Leigh 28-27 over Kim Novak

Marilyn Monroe 42-11 over Mamie Van Doren

Grace Kelly 52-3 over Diana Dors

Lana Turner 31-23 over Eva Marie Saint

Gloria Grahame 38-16 over Jayne Mansfield

Audrey Hepburn became the first actress to post a shut out over another actress in tourney play history. A 55-0 drubbing of Pier Angeli. Ouch! Perennial strong contender Grace Kelly blew past Diana Dors with ease. Anne Francis posted a comeback win over Sophia Loren. In the battle of Hitchcock women, it was Janet Leigh edging out Kim Novak by 1 vote.

1960'S ERA

NATALIE WOOD 56-20 over RITA MORENO
SHIRLEY JONES 45-42 over SHIRLEY MACLAINE
LIZA MINNELI 50-35 over BARBRA STREISAND
ANN-MARGRET 58-15 over DIAHANN CARROLL
CATHERINE DENEUVE 43-22 over JEANNE MOREAU
LIV ULLMAN 54-13 over LILA KEDROVA
ROMY SCHNEIDER 37-21 over ANNA KARINA
CLAUDIA CARDINALE 38-22 over GIULIETTA MASINA

60's era top seed Natalie Wood opened with a blow-out win over her Westside Story co-star Rita Moreno, marking yet another potential final four run. Two upsets occurred in this era. The first being 2nd seed Shirley MacLaine losing to another Shirley, 7th seed Jones, 45-42 as Jones made a rally to overtake MacLaine to win the match. It was close all the way though. The other upset was not. Upstart Liza Minneli (6th seed) took down Barbra Streisand 50-35 and it was even close. Liza led from day one and never looked back.

Congrats to these winners today as they will have their second round matches begin this upcoming Sunday. In the meantime, the other two categories of each respective era will begin their competition within a few hours tonight.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Second day action heats up

Things got a little closer in some matches for day 2 of round one. Here are the latest numbers:

1930'S ERA

Claudette Colbert leads Joan Crawford 49-33
Marlene Dietrich leads Ann Dvorak 40-37 (Ann has made a move from day one as she was down by as many as 17 votes)
Glenda Farrell leads Norma Shearer 39-37 (oh my, Glenda has stormed back from a 4 vote deficit to lead Norma by 2)
Greta Garbo leads Dolores Del Rio 48-24
Kay Francis leads Louise Brooks 43-25 (Kay Francis is making good on her first tourney appearance)
Gloria Swanson is tied with Clara Bow 36-36 (wow)
Lillian Gish leads Mary Pickford 48-26 (Lillian is crushing Mary..kinda surprising there..thought this would be a closer match)

1940'S ERA

Bette Davis leads Jane Wyman 47-3 (Bette is destroying Jane!)
Vivien Leigh leads Joan Fontaine 44-12
Ingrid Bergman leads Greer Garson 36-12 (looks like Greer is gonna be 0-3)
Olivia de Havilland leads Katharine Hepburn 37-19 (this was tight yesterday but Olivia has pulled away today)
Judy Garland leads Margret O'Brien 43-7 (another blow-out)
Ann Miller leads Donna Reed 30-24
Teresa Wright leads June Allyson 37-9
Virginia Mayo leads Jeanne Crain at 28-23 (this match has been back and forth for the past two days and Mayo now has the biggest lead yet)

1950'S ERA

Audrey Hepburn 45 to Pier Angeli 0 (wow! could be a shut-out)

Deborah Kerr 40 to Jean Peters 5

Sophia Loren 22 to Anne Francis 19 (Anne has made this a match now after being
down by 9 yesterday)

Janet Leigh 24 to Kim Novak 21 (still anyone's match)

Marilyn Monroe 36 to Mamie Van Doren 7

Grace Kelly 44 to Diana Dors 1 (well Diana picked up 1 vote so it won't be a shut-out)

Lana Turner 28 to Eva Marie Saint 16

Gloria Grahame 32 to Jayne Mansfield 12

1960'S ERA

Natalie Wood leads Rita Moreno 48-18 (Natalie is about to drop 50 on Rita)

Shirley Jones leads Shirley MacLaine 39-36 (Jones has taken a 3 vote edge after

trailing yesterday by 3)

Liza Minneli leads Barbra Streisand 42-30 (Liza has led from the first moment and is not letting go)

Ann-Margret leads Diahann Carroll 49-13 (this one is pretty much over)

Catherine Deneuve leads Jeanne Moreau 37-20

Liv Ullman leads Lila Kedrova 47-10

Romy Schneider leads Anna Karina 32-20

Claudia Cardinale leads Giulietta Masina 33-21

One more day of voting before this round of matches concludes!

The Morning Movie: THE YOUNGEST PROFESSION (1943)

Catching a little of this movie called The Youngest Profession (1943) on TCM this morning as I get ready for work. It stars Virginia Weidler as the Joan, a teen who chases down movie stars for their autographs. She even has her own group that she formed with her like minded girlfriends. She has the fortune to run into stars like Greer Garson, Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, William Powell and Walter Pidgeon who play themselves. But Joan also has to deal with the mistaken information that her parents are having marital problems. So she takes it upon herself to try and fix the non-existent problem. I've seen about 30 minutes of this movie and I love it. Co-starring Edward Arnold and Agnes Moorehead adds to the wonderment of this film. Can't wait to see the whole thing now.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Few early surprises so far in first round action

The first full day of first round action in the 3rd Annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress tourney is in the books and besides one disqualification, which I talked about in an earlier post, there are only a few upsets going on. Most of the top seeds are making early statements in convincing leads such as Bette Davis up 33-1 over Jane Wyman in the 40's era, Audrey Hepburn shutting out Pier Angeli 28-0 in the 50's era, and Ann-Margret crushing Diahann Carroll 38-9 in the 60's era. A few upsets are occurring but none bigger than Liza Minnelli leading Barbra Streisand 27-21. That would be a surprise if Liza holds on and wins. Some other blow-outs include Grace Kelly blanking Diana Dors 28-0, Deborah Kerr up big over Jean Peters 27-1, Greta Garbo over Dolores del Rio 38-17 and Vivien Leigh leading Joan Fontaine 26-11. First round continues tomorrow and wraps up Wednesday evening.

Barbara Stanwyck becomes an early first round winner by default

Congratulations to Barbara Stanwyck as she becomes an early first round winner. I had to disqualify her opponent Miriam Hopkins because someone hacked into Blogger and tampered with the poll. Miriam logged 44 votes in the space of 4 hours. Now she may be a fondly remembered actress but there is no way she secured that many votes in that little time. Since Babs was leading 43-7 at the last known actual point I had no choice but to disqualify Miriam just because of somebody who felt the need to manipulate the scoring. Really very sad. Anyway Babs gets an early rest as she now must wait on the winner of the Claudette Colbert/Joan Crawford match. Congrats to ya Barbara!

Babs moves on to round 2 with an early victory

Classic Movie Actress Tourney Round 1 Update (Miriam Hopkins is disqualified)

I thought I would update everyone on how the matches are going. First up, I have to disqualify Miriam Hopkins. It appears someone has hacked into Blogger and has tampered with the match. I thought that was the case during her play-in match with Mary Astor but wasn't for sure. Well I am now. Right before lunch I had checked the match and Barbara Stanwyck was beating Miriam handily 43-7. Now Miriam leads 51-47. No way did Miriam get that many votes in the span of 4 hours. It's so sad that one person can ruin such a fun event for everyone. So that match is over as Babs moves on to round 2. And now this sheds light on last year's victory by Ginger Rogers. Maybe she didn't win it fairly. But I won't worry about that now as I will solely concentrate on this year's tourney. Here are the other scores for the other matches going on...

Sad news as Miriam had to be disqualified due to poll tampering

1930'S ERA

Barbara Stanwyck wins 43-7 over Miriam Hopkins (Hopkins is disqualified due to poll tampering)
Claudette Colbert leads Joan Crawford 33-23
Marlene Dietrich leads Ann Dvorak 33-20
Norma Shearer leads Glenda Farrell 28-24
Greta Garbo leads Dolores Del Rio 37-17
Kay Francis leads Louise Brooks 34-18
Gloria Swanson leads Clara Bow 29-26
Lillian Gish leads Mary Pickford 31-21

1940'S ERA

Bette Davis leads Jane Wyman 33-1
Vivien Leigh leads Joan Fontaine 24-10
Ingrid Bergman leads Greer Garson 22-10
Olivia de Havilland leads Katharine Hepburn 18-15
Judy Garland leads Margret O'Brien 29-4
Ann Miller leads Donna Reed 17-15
Teresa Wright leads June Allyson 24-7
Jeanne Crain and Virginia Mayo are tied at 15-15

1950'S ERA

Audrey Hepburn 28 to Pier Angeli 0

Deborah Kerr 27 to Jean Peters 1

Sophia Loren 16 to Anne Francis 10

Janet Leigh 14 to Kim Novak 14

Marilyn Monroe 24 to Mamie Van Doren 3

Grace Kelly 28 to Diana Dors 0

Lana Turner 20 to Eva Marie Saint 8

Gloria Grahame 20 to Jayne Mansfield 8

1960'S ERA

Natalie Wood leads Rita Moreno 34-15

Shirley MacLaine leads Shirley Jones 27-24

Liza Minneli leads Barbra Streisand 27-21

Ann-Margret leads Diahann Carroll 38-9

Catherine Deneuve leads Jeanne Moreau 30-15

Liv Ullman leads Lila Kedrova 32-9

Romy Schneider leads Anna Karina 26-15

Claudia Cardinale leads Giulietta Masina 27-15

And since I know the scores now of all the current matches it will be easy to deduce if they

get tampered with too. I hope that's not the case. Hope the rest of the tourney will go smoothly

and fairly.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

It's finally here. After months of talking about it, the 3rd annual Favorite Classic Movie Actress tournament is underway. Well the 30's era portion here on All Good Things is anyway. Because of time zone differences the other blogs will be starting their eras a little later. But before the day is out all four eras will be up and running. The polls to vote on the 8 matches of the 30's era can be found over on the right hand sidebar. And just below them will be the links to the other blogs to go vote on those matches once they get going. The first 8 matches of this round will end on Wednesday evening at 6 pm EST. Immediately after the next set of 8 matches for this first round will begin and run through Saturday evening at 6 pm EST. Unless of course if there is a tie, it may go an extra day. Good luck to all 128 actresses who are competing. And let's keep things fair! Whoever wins will win fairly and rightly!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Some key matches to start March Madness

Just wanted to spotlight some matches that I think will be very competitive when the tourney starts tomorrow. I chosen a few from each era. Let's begin in the 30's era. First up:

1930'S ERA

No. 4 Claudette Colbert takes on no. 5 Joan Crawford in what should be a pivotal match. Both actresses are a combined 9-4 over the past two tourneys. It is a doozy of a first round match. And both women have strong fanbases. This one could go either way.

No. 3 Marlene Dietrich battles no. 6 Ann Dvorak who is making her tourney debut. Marlene has been up and down in the past tourneys with a 2-2 record. I would not be surprised if Ann pulls off an upset here.

1940'S ERA

How about this one for a first round match-up: Katharine Hepburn vs Olivia de Havilland. Both actresses have won a few matches in tourney play but have never made it pass the sweet sixteen. And it's safe to say one will be going home early again.

And here's another top notch match involving no. 3 Ingrid Bergman vs no. 6 Greer Garson. Even though Greer is 0-3 in tourney/match play she won't remain winless for too much longer. But Ingrid Bergman has one of the best winning records at 7-3. Should be a good match.

1950'S ERA

Over in the 50's era come a battle between two leading ladies of Hitchcock films..No 4 Janet Leigh and no. 5 Kim Novak. Might turn into a suspenseful clash.

And in the singers/dancer category, no. 3 Cyd Charisse faces off against no. 6 Dorothy Dandridge.
A heavenly match if there ever was one.

1960'S ERA

In a battle between Westside Story co-stars, top reigning 60's era champion Natalie Wood, who has made the final four in both previous tourneys squares off against Rita Moreno.

And one match that I am looking forward to is Faye Dunaway taking on first timer Paula Prentiss. I feel like Paula could be this year's Cinderella.

So get ready for some fun and excitement as the tourney starts tomorrow.

2013 Favorite Classic Movie Actress Tournament: 1930's Era Bracket

Here are the scheduled matches in the 30's era bracket that will kick off tomorrow Sunday, March 3rd. Just wanted to post them now so everyone will have an idea of what to expect. My co-bloggers who are helping me with this tourney will post their respective matches for the eras they chose this weekend too. But here are mine for the 30's. Please keep in mind that only the first two brackets (They Had Faces, Tough Broads/Pre-Code Babes) will begin on March 3rd while the other two brackets (Funny Ladies, Singers/Dancers) start on Wednesday, March 6th. Doing it that way as not to overwhelm everyone. Oh and here are the links to my friends who are handling the other eras so you can check out those matches as well: the 40's here: rosalind-russell.blogspot; the 50's here: journeysinclassicfilm; and the 60's here: mythicalmonkey.blogspot

And you will note a lot of actresses making their tourney debut this year including Glenda Farrell, Thelma Todd, Kay Francis, Ann Dvorak, Eleanor Powell and Una Merkel. Oh and also I have included match play wins and losses to the actresses overall record. And you can cast your votes on the polls that will be located on the right hand sidebar of this blog.

THEY HAD FACES

1 GRETA GARBO

Tourney record (4-2)