March Madness #31: CAROLE LOMBARD

Welcome to ALL GOOD THINGS! It's the final day of MARCH MADNESS! THANK YOU for visiting daily to see a classic film Super-Star of the day - Here's hoping the personalities showcased here have been entertaining. It's been fun to highlight those renowned for portraying the really, really B.A.D. and also the sweetest-dearest-most darling!

Day #30 results: HENRY FONDA'S Voters were charmed that darling-lamb-of-a-man, "HOPSY" PIKE ("The Lady Eve") 31 votes of 16 for the low-down-dirty-dawy, FRANK ("Once Upon A Time in the West).

TODAY the spotlight shines on CAROLE LOMBARD - another Hollywood MEGA-Superstar actress, Carole was great as a comic madcap, an ingenue, or a wicked woman.

Which of CAROLE's character types do YOU prefer? Gentle as a LAMB? Or, Bold as a Lion?

March Madness #30 HENRY FONDA

Welcome to ALL GOOD THINGS! It's MARCH MADNESS! Visit daily to see a classic film Super-Star of the day - a personality renowned for portraying the really, really B.A.D. and also the sweetest-dearest-most darling!

Day #29 results: SUSAN HAYWARD Voters responded enthusiastically yesterday with 53 total votes. Lion-hearted BATHSHEBA won the day 29 votes to 24 for JANE FROMAN, that dear.

TODAY the spotlight shines on HENRY FONDA - another Hollywood MEGA-Superstar actor, and the father of an acting dynasty with his daughter, Jane and son, Peter, who's children are in "the biz", too. Early on Henry was a dashing debonair leading man, and with maturity relished roles that let him show his Lion-hearted side: bravery, strength of character and in some roles, he was a real menace.
Which of HENRY's character types do YOU prefer? Gentle as a LAMB? Or, Bold as a Lion?

Second round of Screwball Film Tourney results

A lot more closer matches this round as three of them were decided by 5 points or less. Two of the three top seeds rolled to easy victories, none more so than It Happened One Night Night. It hammered Merrily We Live 46-1. And Live just picked up that single vote on Thursday after 4 days of tourney play. Overall top seed Bringing Up Baby had little difficulty in defeating Midnight 33-13. But the last remaining top seed, My Man Godfrey had a devil of time with The Awful Truth before taking it down 27-21. And the one upset occurred when seventh seeded Ball of Fire beat third seed You Can't Take It With You 25-20. Here are the  complete scores on all eight matches. Round 3 will begin Sunday as the winners move on.

The Lady Eve moves on to round three

1 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 46
4 MERRILY WE LIVE 1

2 HIS GIRL FRIDAY 34
3 THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 17

1 MY MAN GODFREY 27
4 THE AWFUL TRUTH 21

3 YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU 20
7 BALL OF FIRE 25

2 THE THIN MAN 30
6 THE PALM BEACH STORY 15

4 THE LADY EVE 26
8 MY FAVORITE WIFE 20

1 BRINGING UP BABY 33
4 MIDNIGHT 13

2 TO BE OR NOT TO BE 32
3 THEODORA GOES WILD 11

THE MONTIES: 1943 - Without a Shadow of a Doubt, Hitchcock wins his first Montie..as well as a couple of women named Anne

Back with another year of the Monties, my version of the Oscars. These are the films and performances I would have given an award to as being best in show for that given year. So let's get to it.

BEST FILM
winner: Shadow Of A Doubt
nominees: The More The Merrier; The Ox-Bow Incident; Casablanca; Edge of Darkness;
A Guy Named Joe; Old Acquaintance; Five Graves To Cairo; I Walked With A Zombie
Thoughts: Shadow Of A Doubt becomes the first Hitchcock film to pick up a Montie. Rebecca and The Lady Vanishes were the only previous Hitch films to receive a Best Film nomination but lost out to my favorite films of all time, His Girl Friday and Bringing Up Baby respectively. There were plenty of excellent films in 1943 such as The Ox-Bow Incident and Old Acquaintance. Some people may be surprised to see I Walked With A Zombie making the nominee list but if you have never seen this film, it is really, really good. A standout.

Nothing like a little celebratory feast, eh Teresa?

BEST DIRECTOR

winner: Alfred Hitchcock (Shadow Of A Doubt)

nominees: George Stevens (The More The Merrier); William Wellman (The Ox-Box Incident);

Billy Wilder (Five Graves To Cairo); Vincent Sherman (Old Acquaintance)

Thoughts: It was only a matter of time before I would give Hitch a Montie for Best Director. And we haven't even hit his most creative and rich period yet of the 50's. Expect plenty more Monties to go his way by the time it's all said and done.

Hitch doing a little dance after his win

BEST ACTOR

winner: Henry Fonda (The Ox-Bow Incident)

nominees: Errol Flynn (Edge Of Darkness); Joseph Cotten (Shadow Of A Doubt); Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca); Spencer Tracy (A Guy Named Joe)

Thoughts: As much as an iconic role that Bogie had in Casablanca, I was more impressed with the subtle performance of Henry Fonda in The Ox-Bow Incident as drifter Gil Carter who tries to be the sensible voice among a furious mob who wants justice on the men they think are guilty. Fonda shows you don't have to have a showy role to convey how talented an actor can be. He is excellent and worthy of a Montie. And honorable mention goes to Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie from Shadow Of A Doubt. Any other year, he would probably would have walked away with a Montie himself.

Ya'll hear that...I just won a Montie!

BEST ACTRESS

winner: Ann Sheridan (Edge Of Darkness)

nominees: Bette Davis (Old Acquaintance); Teresa Wright (Shadow Of A Doubt); Jean Arthur (The More The Merrier); Frances Dee (I Walked With A Zombie)

Thooughts: Proving there is more to her than being known just as the Oooomph Girl, Ann Sheridan was really, really good in Edge Of Darkness. Cast as a young Norwegian woman named Karen Stensgard, who along with her fishing village try to stand up German rule. She endures quite a lot in a very strong and moving performance. Powerful. Side note: some might be surprised to see Frances Dee here nominated for her performance in I Walked With A Zombie, but trust me, she is really good in this underrated film. As the nurse who comes to take care of a woman going through some problems, she winds up in the middle of voodoo and other things. This is quite a classic as is Dee's performance.

Ann looking a little tense before I announce her as the winner for Best Actress

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

winner: Anne Baxter (Five Graves To Cairo)

nominees: Esther Williams (A Guy Named Joe); Kim Hunter (The Seventh Victim); Lena Horne (Cabin In The Sky); Carmen Miranda (The Gang's All Here)

Thoughts: Well, well another Anne wins a Montie. This time being Anne Baxter in Five Graves To Cairo. She is terrific as Mouche, who helps a British soldier escape the clutches of German Field Marshall Rommel. I don't think Anne was ever better than here..maybe All About Eve. But she gives a truly outstanding performance. The other nominees are quite varied with Esther Williams, Lena Horne and Carmen Miranda.

Really, you boys think you can do better than Monty? I doubt that...he just thought

I gave a performance worthy of one of his awards.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

winner: Claude Rains (Casablanca)

nominees: Charles Coburn (The More The Merrier); Erich Von Stroheim (Five Graves To Cairo); Hume Cronyn (Shadow Of A Doubt); Harry Morgan (The Ox-Bow Incident)

Thoughts: Claude Rains wins his second Montie for his wonderful performance as Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca. He earns that film's only award from me and he deserves it. I acutally find his relationship with Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) far more interesting than Rick's and Ilsa. Louis and Rick have that type of relationship of give and take and is a joy to watch.

This Monty chap is a man of good taste I see...

So that wraps up the 1943 Monties..final tally..Shadow Of A Doubt is a multiple winner with two awards; Fives Graves to Cairo gets one; Casablanca gets one; Edge of Darkness gets one and The Ox-Bow Incident gets one. I spreaded the wealth around for this year. Be back shortly with 1944 and maybe a few more categories I'm thinking of adding.

THE FALL SERIES: Henry Fonda

Say CHEESE!

Shirley Jones in THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB (1970)

James Stewart and Henry Fonda team up for this surprisingly genteel western about a cowboy named O'Hanlan (played by Jimmy) who inherits a business from his recently passed brother. Well the business turns out to be a bordello ran by the sweet Jenny (our girl Shirley). But this western is not lude and vulgar, it is very funny and tame. It is rated PG and there is no nudity, very little cursing, and some gunplay. A great wholesome movie actually. It's great seeing two veterans like Stewart and Fonda team up again as their careers were winding down. Fonda plays O'Hanlan's buddy Harley Sullivan, who gets the majority of the film's laughs. And Shirley once again deilvers a solid performance as Jenny, who takes a shine to O'Hanlan. This film was directed by musical film star, Gene Kelly.

Film: B
Shirley's performance: B

12 Angry Men - It doesn't get any better than this

The definition of a classic film. First, let me give you the role call of this stellar cast. Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam and a few others. This riveting drama takes place in a juror chamber as 12 men decide the verdict on a murder case. All the evidence seems to point to the young teen being guilty but Henry Fonda rises and states a reasonable doubt and begins to sway the others decisions. At times humorous, but mostly deadly serious. Fonda gives a casual but intense performance. Cobb is off the scale as Fonda's main rival. His final speech as to why the teen is guilty is ACTING 101. And the others also give solid performances. Even if you don't care for B&W movies, I urge you to see this film. It's one of the best ever made.

Flixster - Share Movies

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Juror #8: It's always difficult to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And wherever you run into it, prejudice always obscures the truth. I don't really know what the truth is. I don't suppose anybody will ever really know. Nine of us now seem to feel that the defendant is innocent, but we're just gambling on probabilities - we may be wrong. We may be trying to let a guilty man go free, I don't know. Nobody really can. But we have a reasonable doubt, and that's something that's very valuable in our system. No jury can declare a man guilty unless it's SURE. We nine can't understand how you three are still so sure. Maybe you can tell us.