My girl Carole is among those who are in trouble...

Part 2 of the second round of funny ladies and singers/dancers had a very interesting first day. And my girl Carole Lombard is getting all she handle from Jean Arthur.


SILENT/30'S ERA

JEAN ARTHUR 52 CAROLE LOMARD 48
MYRNA LOY 60 JEAN HARLOW 22
GINGER ROGERS 59 HATTIE MCDANIEL 20
IRENE DUNNE 74 JEANETTE MACDONALD 11


Carole is in a tough battle with the equally popular Jean Arthur. In fact Jean has led this match the entire way. Come on Carole..get it in gear. The other matches are blow-outs, especially Irene Dunne/Jeanette MacDonald. The defending champion Dunne has already put up 74 points in one day. Looks like the record of most singles votes is gonna be broken yet again.


40'S ERA

ROSALIND RUSSELL 47 JANE WYMAN 47
LUCILLE BALL 45 EVE ARDEN 43
JUDY GARLAND 38 BETTY GRABLE 31
RITA HAYWORTH 36 ANN MILLER 21


Top seed Rosalind Russell is tied with Jane Wyman in a thrilling match. And Lucy is having a back and forth match with the wise-cracking Eve Arden. And Judy Garland is finally starting to pull away from Betty Grable.


50'S ERA

JANET LEIGH 36 JUDY HOLLIDAY 26
MARILYN MONROE 36 THELMA RITTER 31
DORIS DAY 51 VERA-ELLEN 16
DEBBIE REYNOLDS 45 CYD CHARISSE 25


Janet Leigh leads Judy Holliday by 10 votes. Top seed Doris Day is all over Vera-Ellen. And Thelma Ritter is hanging in there with Marilyn Monroe, down by only 5 votes.


60'S ERA

NATALIE WOOD 43 HAYLEY MILLS 10
JANE FONDA 34 SANDRA DEE 17
JULIE ANDREWS 32 SHIRLEY JONES 19
SHIRLEY MACLAINE 29 ANN-MARGRET 22


Top seed Natalie Wood is crushing Hayley Mills, up by more than 30 votes. The close match going on is between Shirley MacLaine and Ann-Margret. Shirley currently has a 7 vote edge.

Look for these matches to continue today and we'll see how is leading tomorrow when I do an update post.

Rear Window rolls to an easy win to grab a spot in the final four

No need to be worried Thelma and Jimmy...Rear Window rolled big time

As expected Rear Window crushed The Man Who Knew Too Much 28-2 in the 50's era of favorite Hitchcock film to advance to the final four. It joins 30's era winner The Lady Vanishes and 40's era winner, Rebecca. I thought Rear Window would win this era but I thought it would have to beat Vertigo. Instead The Man Who Knew Too Much ended up bouncing Vertigo to face Rear Window. Now we must wait on the 60's bracket to see who will claim the last spot. If I was a betting man, I would have to go with Psycho. But we'll see. Anyway congratulations to Rear Window.

If It's Tuesday, Then It Must Be Grace Kelly - Rear Window is my favorite Grace Kelly film

I rank Rear Window as my number 2 all time Alfred Hitchcock film, just behind The Lady Vanishes and tied with the equally excellent Shadow of a Doubt. Window is a treat for the viewer with gorgeous cinematography and excellent camera work from Hitch. The story is simple enough: maverick photographer Jeff (played by the great Jimmy Stewart) is laid up in his New York apartment with a broken leg. He is being cared for by his very upscale girlfriend Lisa (the luminous Grace Kelly) and his nurse Stella (the always reliable Thelma Ritter). With little to do Jeff begins spying on his neighbors across the courtyard and what neighbors does he have. You have a highly limber blonde dancer; a troubled songwriter; a lonely woman who can't find a date; a busybody old lady; a couple with an energetic little dog; and last but not least the couple directly across from him with a very large man named Lars Thorwald (played by Raymond Burr-before Perry Mason) and his sickly wife. Well amidst all the goings on between Jeff and Lisa-she is ready to marry, he not so much and Stella's constant needling, Jeff notices strange things between Lars and his wife. Before you know it, the wife has gone and Jeff suspects foul play. It takes a little convincing to bring Lisa and Stella to his way of thinking but eventually they agree. The police, on the other hand are a different story. So the trio decide they need proof and with Jeff hobbled with a cast on his broken leg, Lisa and Stella decide to do the leg work (no pun intended). What follows is a game of suspense taken up to the highest level. Rear Window is a near perfect film with fabulous performances. Stewart is solid as always as is Ritter, who gets to say most of the film's best lines including "Nobody ever invented a polite word for a killin' yet". And Burr makes an effectively creepy bad man. But it's Grace Kelly who makes the movie for me. She just lights up the room whenever she comes in and the banter she trades with Stewart is pure bliss. I believe this to be Ms. Kelly's best film performance ever. Yes even better than her Academy Award winning role in The Country Girl. She never hits a wrong note as Lisa, and is a true joy to watch. Rear Window is one of the best films ever made and one of the best from ol Hitch.


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