At The Beach: JULIE NEWMAR

All I can say is....WOW!

31 Stars In 31 Days: Day 19 - NATALIE WOOD

One of my all time favorite actresses, Natalie Wood gets her day under the sun as she is my star of the day. I have loved Natalie ever since I began watching classic movies so many years ago. I believe the first film I saw her in was the comedy Father was a Fullback (1949) with Fred MacMurray. AMC showed lots of her movies back then and I tried to watch them all. I recorded some movies of hers from TCM last year and will watch them today. Should be a very good Sunday.

Favorite Natalie film: LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1965)
Favorite Natalie role: Maggie DuBois (The Great Race)
Favorite Marilyn co-star: Tony Curtis in The Great Race/Sex and the Single Girl
Films of Natalie seen: 21 out of 45 films

Ummm, I wonder what films of mine Monty will watch today?

Today's films: from the 60's era when she had matured into adult roles with the slightest of ease.
Like I said I recorded these films last year from TCM and some I have never seen, so today will be a new Natalie experience for me. Including CASH McCALL (1960), co-starring James Garner. I also have BOB & CAROL & ALICE & TED (1969) the swinging comedy about well ummm swingers. And will top it off with The Great Race, which I have seen countless times but never get tired of watching it.

Hall of Fame new inductees for the month: Ginger Rogers and Rosalind Russell

A new month brings two more inductees for my Hall of Fame. Two more wonderful women. Ginger Rogers and Rosalind Russell.

Ginger earns his way into All Good Things Hall Of Fame thanks to her complete annihilation of other actresses in this year's Favorite Classic Actress tourney. I mean she crushed her competitors with some very lop-sided victories. Even took down my girl Carole Lombard. She joins first tourney winner Irene Dunne in that regard of inductees entering the hall of fame.

Rosalind Russell gets in thanks to her recent Montie win for Best Actress of 1940. Her memorable turn as reporter Hildy Burns is one for the ages. It's my favorite movie of all time and it's my favorite performance of hers.

So that brings the total to eight people currently in the Hall of Fame. Be back next month with two more additions.

At The Beach: RHONDA FLEMING

Rhonda looking so serene

Summer Lovin' - MAUREEN O'HARA

Maureen about to go for a swim

31 Stars in 31 Days: Day 16 - VIVIEN LEIGH

Tonight I will be watching a Vivien Leigh movie and no not Gone With The Wind, her most iconic movie and role. No, I shall watch Waterloo Bridge, which is actually my favorite performance of hers. But let's get to the necessary info first about Ms. Leigh shall we...

Favorite Vivien film: GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) - just too epic not be my fave..even
though it's not my fave film from that golden year of 1939..in fact it is way down that list..just saying..
I hope GWTW fans don't come after me with pitchforks now!
Favorite Vivien role: Myra (WATERLOO BRIDGE - 1940) - yes I thought she was better here
than in GWTW. So heartbreaking!
Favorite Vivien co-star: toss up between Clark Gable and Laurence Olivier
Films of Vivien seen: 7 out of 20 films..I need to watch me some more Viv!

Today's film: WATERLOO BRIDGE (1940) - Heartbreaking film. Here is my full review when I wrote it a while back.. poohtiger-allgoodthings.blogspot.com/2010/09/vivien-leigh-in-heart-breaking-waterloo.html

Cinematic World Tour: Next stop...Berlin (GRAND HOTEL)

Frequent contributor Rich over at Wide Screen World has wrote another contribution piece for our Cinematic World Tour Blogathon. He has chosen the hot spot of Berlin and the wonderful film Grand Hotel. Please check out the amazing post he did. I've read it twice so far. Here's the link:  widescreenworld.blogspot.com

Greta about to let everyone know that Rich has

done another wonderful post

At The Beach: ANN-MARGRET

Ann sporting a polka dot bikini...polka dots must were the rage back then

BRAVE (2012) is pure cinema magic!

Just got back from finally seeing Brave, Pixar's latest offering, and I was thoroughly entertained. One of the year's best films by far. My friend Irene just saw it a few days ago and raved about it and we pretty much have the same taste in films. So I knew going in that the odds were in favor of Brave being pretty good. And boy it did not disappoint. Featuring some dazzling animation and some lovely Scottish ballads, this tale about the rebellious Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who refuses to bow down to tradition and be married to a suitable mate. Which puts her at odds with her strict mom Elinor (voiced wonderfully by Emma Thompson). Merida's dad, the jovial Fergus (voiced by Billy Connolly) is a lot more flexible. In fact he let Merida train with a cross bow at a very young age, which turns her into a pretty good archer. I mean this girl can sling arrows with the best of them. Yes, even Robin Hood. And Merida has hair to die for. Her long flowing red tresses are an eye popping visual treat. Along with her loyal steed Angus, Merida sets out to do things her way.

Look at all that glorious red hair

Things are pretty light and humorous until Merida makes a fateful decision that has a drastic impact on her and her family. I can't go into detail without spoiling the movie, but trust me, it's a doozy. Things come to a head with a fraught filled finale that will not disappoint. And call me sentimental, but it may get you a little teary-eyed. 

Fergus and Elinor

Brave was the most fun I had at the cinema this year since The Avengers. It's a really great film. And clocking in at a brisk 100 minutes, things never bog down or get slow. One of my favorite films of the summer. Heck one of my favorite films of the year. I liked it even more than Dark Knight Rises. Yep, it's that good. And I think this is the first film where I have heard so many awwwwwws from the audience. I lost count after about twenty.

Merida and Angus

****1/2 out of ***** stars

Merida shows the crowd how's it done!

Merida and her three younger brothers who manage to steal some scenes

in this movie

Seeing this guy brought back memories of William Wallace aka Braveheart

Take that Katniss

Summer Lovin': AVA GARDNER

Who wants to play catch with Ava?