August 20, 2010
"Have you never wanted to do anything that was dangerous?"
That's a montage I happened upon while looking for something else. Make of it what you will, but there's some truly fabulous female (and male) beauty to be gawked at. Tallulah is the most beautiful, is she not? And there she was, in that least glamorous setting, the lifeboat, of Hitchcock's "Lifeboat," which is what I was Googling for, looking for that scene with William Bendix (as "Gus") drinking sea water, a propos of lemondog's comment in the "Irony pursues Barack Obama" post.
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58 comments:
No, Cary is the most beautiful. Followed by Ingrid.
Why the mixing of "Frankenstein" with Hitchcock movies?
Lifeboat is also a story for our time, as are most of John Steinbeck's stories.
Please, discard the dingbat feminist religion.
Try Christianity.
God, Ann, you're awful when you start on the feminism.
I mean hideously awful. We'd like to have sex with women, but when they bring out this hideous side of themselves, it's difficult if not impossible.
Remember your post about the death of family and marriage in the Soviet Union?
Get it?
Dump this dreadful, inhuman shit. Sure, it feeds your ego. It puts you at the top of the quota list.
It's seductive. The commie bullshit always is.
The bare chest we saw here (who was that?) was fine, but all to often when I watch that era of movie I am slightly shocked at how not buff the leading men are.
Sorry, Althouse. When watching that video I was wondering how that dog made the clip amongst so many beauties. Probably the way she was made up to look lost at sea. I'm sure she was lovely most of the time.
And if you're on Hitchcock and women how could you ignore "The Birds". (This is the best clip of scenes that I could find so quickly)
Typical Hitchcock blonde upsetting the very balance of nature. And I love the contrast with Jessica Tandy, the old crone (though still looking beautiful), protecting her son/man and eyeing Hedron with deep suspicion.
(Now if you're going to talk Freud, Hitchcock is the director.)
A whole generation got an inferiority complex from impossibly beautiful movie stars...well, I did anyway.
Speaking of being stranded on a raft, and hydration options, I present to you, Bear Grylls.
Cary Grant is dashing; and I've always thought Claude Rains had a devilish sort of cuteness to him too.
Hey, I didn't make this montage. I just found it. You tell me what it means. I suppose the idea is that Hitchcock made these women into what was in his imagination, just as Dr. Frankenstein made his monster. And the monster is ugly but the women are beautiful.
I'm guessing the 3 women were chosen as being Hitchcock's 3 most beautiful women. That clearly explains Tallulah and Ingrid. Is Joan Fontaine the 3d in that set? I don't know, but these 3 are probably all more beautiful than Tippi Hedren, unless the blondness of hair is a big factor in your calculation. Blondness and iciness. I like the hotter actresses more. I love Ingrid Bergman for that reason. Haven't seen "Lifeboat" in a long time, but I supposed Tallulah is swell. Love "Rebecca" too.
Tippi didn't need Botox to get that facially frozen look. She got there naturally, by being icy. Cool!
Ingrid is my vote. Tallulah is pretty haggish.
Joan Fontaine played the mousy parts, particularly in Hitchcock's movies, "Rebecca" and "Suspicion." In the former, her mousiness was a virtue. And her (comparative) lack of looks was the point.
Most beautiful Hitchcock blonde is Grace Kelly. Specifically Grace in "Rear Window."
http://www.smvblog.com/nonita/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/GraceKellyRearWindow.jpg
Thank You for the link to the Wikipedia entry on Bankhead -- a treat.
I remember Cavett telling that story about Chico Marx.
He may also have told the one about complaints to Hitchcock about Bankhead not wearing underwear on the set of Lifeboat (she had to climb a ldder to get into the boat on set). "Who should I talk to about this?" he said, "Wardrobe, Makeup ... or perhaps Hairdressing?"
"Tippi didn't need Botox to get that facially frozen look. She got there naturally, by being icy. Cool!"
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Hitch had an twisted stalker-like obsession with Hedren.
Tippi didn't need Botox to get that facially frozen look.
I believe that was purposeful on Hitchcock's part. Professor, you of all people dissing the "Hitchcock blondes".
I would agree that Grace Kelly was beautiful in "Rear Window". Hitch really pushed the envelope with the "sleep over" scene in "Rear Window" (at least the suggestion.)
Ditto with Eva Marie Saint in "North by Northwest"
Roger Thornhill: The moment I meet an attractive woman, I have to start pretending I have no desire to make love to her.
Eve Kendall: What makes you think you have to conceal it?
Roger Thornhill: She might find the idea objectionable.
Eve Kendall: Then again, she might not.
And to once again paraphrase Freud:
Sometimes a train is just a train
or not!
The bare chest we saw here (who was that?) was fine, but all to often when I watch that era of movie I am slightly shocked at how not buff the leading men are.
Weightlifting wasn't all the rave back in the day so unless they were engaging in physical labor, they probably didn't look all that different than contemporary guys who don't work out.
For that matter, the women didnt have much in the way of junk in the trunk either. Look at that famous pin up of Betty Grable and you'll see what I'm talkin about.
The archetypal Hitchcock blonde
This movie is such a disturbing movie, talk about male female issues!
Judy: If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?
Scottie: Yes. Yes.
Judy: All right. All right then, I'll do it. I don't care anymore about me.
What an increadible run of movies for Hitch from '51 ("Strangers on a Train") to '60 ("Psycho")
Most beautiful Hitchcock blonde is Grace Kelly.
I'm sorry, that's not the correct answer. The most Most beautiful Hitchcock blonde is Eva Marie Saint.
Thank you for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts for you ;-)
Ingrid. "Notorious"
Well if Darcy was a Hitchcock girl she'd be the most beautiful blonde. Or whatever color hair she has.
And that bare chest shot; let me just say I won't ever get a tattoo on my chest. The one on my back almost had me crying like a feminist dressed up like an Ewok.
Nobody was more beautiful than Ingrid Bergman, but, to answer the title question, I live with The Blonde, that's all the danger I need.
Hoosier Daddy said...
The bare chest we saw here (who was that?) was fine, but all to often when I watch that era of movie I am slightly shocked at how not buff the leading men are.
Weightlifting wasn't all the rave back in the day so unless they were engaging in physical labor, they probably didn't look all that different than contemporary guys who don't work out.
John Hodiak was the chest in question. There were guys who lifted weights, but it was all free weights, no machines the way you have today. You got buff by doing physical work, which buffs you differently.
For that matter, the women didnt have much in the way of junk in the trunk either. Look at that famous pin up of Betty Grable and you'll see what I'm talkin about.
Depends. women of black or Mediterranean descent are more likely to be well-endowed below the waist. The movies tried to cover it up. Take a look at Greer Garson some time.
Tallulah was courageous a woman in her time. She held her own at the Algonquin Roundtable. She was tres witty and had an independent streak like a certain Blogress we know.
Tallulah in her prime was in the Bette Davis category. Almost, but not quite, "how did she get into pictures"?
Some other Hitchcock women, all better looking than Bankhead.
Darcy, on the other hand, seems to be evergreen.
Hoosier Daddy! :)
I think Ingrid has to be my biggest girl crush from that era. Joan Fontaine was so lovely in Rebecca. Also, I think Tippi would be stunning in any hair color. Her features were so fine.
But Eva - HOT in N by NW. So right.
And if Titus were around, he'd be calling me a lesbian again. :)
In the end, Hitch was ambivalent about the blonde. Note Karen Black here and here
(Karen Black, the cross-eyed beauty, where is she now?)
Tradguy--
Yeah, she was a fascinating character. Attractive, talented, mysterious, smart, witty, glamorous, even.
But not beautiful.
Much like Davis, really, but Davis was better looking.
Karen Black, the cross-eyed beauty, where is she now?
She always creeped me out.
Speaking of women's allowed roles today, the drumbeat of a flood of introductory articles about the brilliant and likable Mitch Daniels has started. The one I just read explained that he is a superior man to the "strident Sarah Palin", because everybody likes him. Talk about media spin, this may be the Mother of All Media Spins.
Tallulah by a wide margin. Very slutty with just the right whiskey voice. Painted by Augustus John.
Blake...Since the movies went to talkies from silents, beauty has been more than classic perfection like in a SI swimsuit model's smile. The voice and the facial expressions are a whole, and an imperfection adds to the allure. Anyway, I adored Bankhead's personae that she was never bound by a social convention unless she wanted to be bound by it. Therefore doing Tallulah was definitely doing something dangerous.
My guess is that Ingrid would be far more likely to attract the libidinal energy of the Ewoks and leave many sticky wickets in her wake. The irony is that Tallulah would be the earth creature most likely to debauch herself by cavorting among furry, woodlawn creatures.
"Typical Hitchcock blonde upsetting the very balance of nature. And I love the contrast with Jessica Tandy, the old crone (though still looking beautiful), protecting her son/man and eyeing Hedron with deep suspicion."
"Oh. I see."
That movie is a minefield.
Tippi Hedren, by the way STILL looks fabulous. She is 80 years old.
Tallulah's quite splendid--even in Lifeboat. Sapphically splendid as well...allegedly.
All three women in this montage broke the social conventions of their times, snared in scandals.
(Fontaine today lives with her dogs.)
Today's movie blonde
I'll take Eva Marie Saint
Ingrid Bergman is one of the loveliest women of that time.
She aged well too (without botox)
c3,
I don't think Diaz is/is going to age well.
Notorious is perhaps my favorite movie. I love that shot of Bergman where the camera swoops down to show her fiddling with the key to the wine cellar. It's fabulous.
Mine too, Deb. The chemistry between them is amazing. The kissing scene at the beginning!
*swoon*
I've imagined a happy ending, and I won't be talked out of it.
deborah;
I don't think Diaz is/is going to age well.
Agreed, and to be clear I meant that EMS aged well.
Hitch liked his leads blonde and WASPy (ironic with Grace Kelly) almost to the point of colorlessness. None of them (with the exception of Bergman) generated the steam of say, Mary Astor. Tallulah came off more dissipated than slutty, but she did have a great voice.
Irene said...
All three women in this montage broke the social conventions of their times, snared in scandals.
(Fontaine today lives with her dogs.)
The irony was that her sister, Olivia DeHavilland, played the sweet girl - in real life also, but took on the system in Hollyweird, won, and left on her own terms. My guess is a lot more people remember, and are fond of, her
edutcher, my Mom used to talk about that sibling rivalry often.
I agree with some here, I've always thought Imgrid Bergman was the most beautiful actress of any time.
There's many, many beautiful ones, of course, but I've been sticking to that for almost 40 years.
c3,
"Agreed, and to be clear I meant that EMS aged well."
Yes, I got that. :)
I don't want to make anyone angry but the difference in movie stars of yore and today is class.
Off topic but a more interesting video commenting on modern social mores
Groucho Marx (in formal voice, on first meeting Talulah Bankhead at a swanky NY party): "I would like to fuck you, Miss Bankhead."
Miss Bankhead (regally): "All in good time, Mr. Marx."
Bankhead and Bergman make today's Hollywood Wild Girls look like teen sluts.
They wanted dangerous. On their own terms.
edutcher--
Mary Astor? Really?
I'd have classed her in the same category as Bankhead and Davis, at least by the time of Maltese Falcon. But I'll allow she was cute in her silent movie days.
Hume Cronyn said that Tallulah did not wear undergarments.
She had to step over him repeatedly during the filming of Lifeboat and eventually asked him if he liked what he had seen.
He said that he told her that he couldn't tell what he had seen but that if anyone could give him a stick he would kill it.
It may be in his autobiography. I laughed when I saw him say it in an interview.
Gave a quick search and did not turn it up...
The interview and his quote, that is...
mc--
The story goes that someone complained to Hitch about it, and he replied, "Perhaps I should call wardrobe. Or maybe this is a job for hairstyling?"
Peter just fainted.
I am aware of the hairdressing quip.
I am feeling a little bit spoiled with our ability to reach information so easily and rapidly these days. So much more so now that I am vexed with having a memory which cannot be immediately linked to through the internet, just like that--voila!
Only several years ago it would have been irrational and more than a little bratty to expect such rapid reference and return on arcane questions. We are lucky, and getting too complacent and ungrateful, judging by my own self with this search.
I did see him make a joke involving her, her immodesty, and slaying the matter with a stick.
Perhaps it was an invention in my addled mind, but I don't think so...He and Jessica lived not far, and friends said they were nice, and so I remember noticing more the vulgar and funny anecdote than I otherwise might have, for no good end than this one day...Unless I am entirely wrong...wouldn't be the first time...
Grumble...brains...memory...grumble
This may be an appropriate situation as his autobio (which may yet have the anecdote) was titled "A Terrible Liar" and seems to suggest of memory that it "...can be a judicious editor, omitting trial and tribulation. It can also be a terrible liar . . ."
via
http://www.accuracyproject.org/cbe-Cronyn,Hume.html
Ugh...computer away now...chasing my own tail over for now...it's gotten late...
:)
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