Posts in Category: News
Christina Interviewed by a Movie Morlock
Christmas has come early for me this year! Not only is Turner Classic Movies running 24 hours of Ann Dvorak programming on August 9th, but an interview with me about Ann has been posted on TCM’s Movie Morlocks blog.
A couple months back, Richard Harland Smith contacted me because he was writing a programming article on Ann’s 1934 flick Massacre, and was looking for additional information. He was the first one to break the news to me that Ann was getting her own day for the annual “Summer Under the Stars” festival. I’m not sure if he found my reaction to be delightfully enthusiastic or freakishly amusing, but he soon offered to interview me for the Morlocks blog about Ann Dvorak Day.
I cannot thank him enough for allowing me to be part of Ann Dvorak Day and I hope you enjoy the interview!
Ann Dvorak at 100
Today marks what would have been Ann Dvorak’s 100th birthday. At the time of her death in 1979, only the most ardent classic film fans remembered her. Now, because of an increased accessibility to her films and info about her life and career, Ann’s fan base is growing. While she will always be relatively obscure, there seems to be more of an appreciation for performances now than anytime since her retirement in 1952. It’s just too bad that she did not live long enough to see this renewed interest.
This month, Turner Classic Movies pays tribute to Ann Dvorak with 24 hours of programming as part of its annual Summer Under the Stars. The festivities kick off at 3:00am PST on August 9th with 1932’s Crooner. TCM has launched a nifty section on its website devoted to all the actors featured on Summer Under the Stars, with Ann’s page including a nice biographical article as well as programming articles on all sixteen films being shown.
As we get closer to the date, I will be writing up a guide to all the films being shown In the meantime, take a minute to hold a good thought for Ann Dvorak on her centennial.
Pre-Code Dvorak Goodies at NYC’s Film Forum
I was born and raised in Southern California, and while I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles, I usually can’t imagine myself living anywhere else. Occasionally, I wish I could live in New York City, and that desire usually coincides with what’s playing at the Film Forum theater. On July 15th, they will be launching four glorious weeks of Pre-Code programming and every print will be 35mm. There are four Ann Dvorak films being screened, which are:
Scarface: July 23-25
The Strange Love of Molly Lovain: August 3
Three on a Match: August 4
Heat Lightning: August 9 (same day as TCM’s Summer Under the Stars tribute)
There are also plenty of non-Dvorak goodies being screened, so if you live in the area, please indulge and let me envy you!
Full “Essential Pre-Code” schedule is here.
August 9th is Ann Dvorak Day on TCM
Oh Turner Classic Movies! As if I needed another reason to love you. The schedule for their annual Summer Under the Stars month, in which an actor is featured each day in August, had been posted and the 9th is all about Ann Dvorak. That’s right, there is actually going to be 24 hours of Ann Dvorak films being broadcast. The last time I remember TCM giving so much love to Ann was back in the fall of 1997, and even then it was maybe six or seven movies that were shown. This time around, they will be airing sixteen of Ann’s films.
There will be some old friends, like Scarface, Three on a Match, and G Men, along with seldom aired Warner Archive titles like Side Streets, Stranger in Town, and I Was an American Spy. I am especially excited for a few films that are neither available on DVD, nor recently shown, including Sweet Music, Massacre, Gentlemen Are Born, and Friends of Mr. Sweeney.
This will come one week after what would have been Ann’s 100th birthday, and I cannot think of a more appropriate tribute to her. As the day gets closer, I will post more in depth info about the films being shown. In the meantime, the full schedule for the entire month can be found here.
Huzzah!
Harlow & Dvorak at 100, an Appreciation
This Thursday marks what would have been the 100th birthday of screen legend Jean Harlow. To commemorate this occasion, the Kitty Packard Pictorial has organized a Blogging it for the Baby, Jean Harlow Blogathon which is taking place this entire week. The project, which encourages bloggers with film related sites to post about Harlow all week, struck me as a really interesting idea and something I wanted to participate in. However, my instant reaction was how could I possibly write about Jean Harlow in a way that is appropriate for a site devoted solely to Ann Dvorak? I figured I would have to sit this one out on the sidelines until I really started thinking about these two actresses and realized they actually have a few things in common, not least of which 2011 also marks Ann Dvorak’s centenary this coming August 2nd.
At first glance it seems that Jean Harlow and Ann Dvorak were worlds apart. Harlow was the wise-cracking platinum blonde who was able to use overt sexuality as a comedic weapon. Dvorak was the brooding brunette whose high-wire intensity played out best in dramatic form. Harlow landed at M-G-M, a studio who carefully crafted an on screen persona that film fans loved and sent her skyrocketing to the top of the box-office. Dvorak was at Warner Bros., a studio focused more on making movies than movie stars and who let Ann languish in mostly supporting roles unworthy of her talent. Harlow was stricken down at age 26 at the height of her popularity, her funeral was a star studded media event, and her grave is a place fans visit (or at least try to visit) continuously. Ann died in obscurity at age 68, almost 30 years after retiring and her ashes were spread over Waikiki Beach by a handful of friends. Harlow has had a consistently high place in the annals of film history, while Dvorak is lucky to be included as a footnote.
Despite these many differences, the two actresses also had a few things in common. Both women started off in the film industry when they were teenagers. Harlow as an extra and bit player with Fox, Paramount, and Hal Roach, and Dvorak as an extra and chorus girl at M-G-M. Both assumed their mother’s name as their stage moniker, and while Harlean Carpenter was always known to fans as Jean Harlow, Anna McKim went by Anna Lehr for only a short period of time before opting for the more exotic Ann Dvorak. Both mothers were very dominant and seemed to enjoy their daughters being in the spotlight more than the actresses themselves did. While Dvorak’s mother had a decade long career as a film actress, Mother Jean’s aspirations at film stardom never panned out.
Ok, perhaps the above comparisons are grasping at straws a bit, but there is one common thread between the careers of Jean Harlow and Ann Dvorak that is undeniable. They were both given their big break in the movies by Howard Hughes. Harlow delighted audiences in as the vampy Helen in 1930’s Hell’s Angels, and Dvorak shocked 1932 film-goers in Scarface as Cesca, whose feelings for older brother Tony (Paul Muni) go way beyond sisterly affection. While Hughes’ eagle-eye spotted talents in both woman that wasn’t readily apparent to other film-makers, his association with both was brief. Harlow would make only the one film for the Caddo Co. before being loaned out to M-G-M who eventually bought her contract from Hughes for $30,000. Dvorak made one more film for Hughes, Sky Devils, and was then loaned out to Warner Bros. exclusively. The Burbank studio became her permanent home after Hughes unloaded her contract for $40,000. Without Howard Hughes, it’s possible that neither woman would have made their mark on film history by becoming the emblematic Pre-Code female, strong, sexually aware, self possessed, and damn fun to watch.
While my Ann Dvorak biography is still a seemingly never ending work in progress (I’ll have an updated report soon), I can at least mention a new Harlow book, Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937, by Darrell Rooney and Mark Vieira. Due out this month, Harlow in Hollywood contains a bonanza of rare images and judging from Vieira’s previous books like Irving Thalberg: Boy Wonder to Producer Prince, I am betting the text will be well researched and thoughtful. This book looks like it’s going to be a must have for fans of Harlow, classic films, and Los Angeles history.
Happy 100th to the Baby and Ann-D! Enjoy the rest of the Harlow Blogathon over at the Kitty Packard Pictorial.
“Stronger Than Desire†on DVD
The Warner Archive delivers again, and this time in a most unexpected way. The past few months, they have been releasing a steady stream of Ann Dvorak’s Warner Bros flicks from the 1930s. Today, they are offering a Walter Pidgeon/Virginia Bruce two-pack including the 1939 drama Stronger Than Desire, featuring our beloved Miss D.
This M-G-M film about an attorney who defends a woman accused of a murder that may have in fact been committed by his own wife (you got that?), was directed by Leslie Fenton, Ann’s first husband. Fenton had turned in his acting cap the year before, and this was one of his first turns as a feature director. The film is enjoyable enough, and Fenton had the opportunity to direct his wife through a heart-wrenching courtroom breakdown.
I particularly like this film for two reasons. First is the scene where Walter Pidgeon has Ann fake-faint in court. He cues her and she just melts out of the chair and onto the floor. I know it’s supposed to be dramatic, but it’s pretty ridiculous and worthy of a rewind and rewatch. The other reason I find this film memorable (as far as Ann Dvorak movies go) is because she has never looked more beautiful. No studio did Hollywood glamor quite like M-G-M, and it shows. Ann is absolutely luminous, even when she is fake-fainting.
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Hats off once again to the Warner Archive for fulfilling the needs of every Ann Dvorak fan, even though they’re probably not doing it consciously.
“Blind Alley” to be Screened at SF Noir Festival
It’s that time of the year when my husband and I talk about driving up to San Francisco for the annual Noir City film festival and don’t actually go. This year will be no exception, because while my 7-month-old daughter is brilliant, theater-going is not yet on her list of accomplishments.
This year’s line-up is especially of interest because they will be screening the 1939 Columbia flick Blind Alley, directed by Charles Vidor, starring Chester Morris, Ralph Bellamy, and of course Ann Dvorak.
As I have previously discussed when it has aired on television, Blind Alley is one of my favorite Dvorak films. This tale of an escaped convict who with his gang, holds a dinner party hostage at a lakeside home while waiting for an escape boat is a bit campy but mostly compelling. How can one not be engrossed watching Ralph Bellamy use his super-psychiatric powers to drive Chester Morris completely insane? Ann plays the ever-devoted girlfriend, a role that was all too familiar in her Warner Bros days. At least this time her true love is a psychotic, murdering thug, and she is a gun-toting hard-ass who looks stunning while ordering the hired help to lock themselves in the basement.
Blind Alley will be screened at the Castro Theatre on Saturday, January 29th at 1:00pm and 4:30pm. It’s part of a double feature with Fritz Lang’s Secret Behind the Door, which as my husband commented, “sounds rad.”
The Noir City festival runs from January 21-30. The full program list can be found on their website.
Ann Dvorak Makes TCM’s List of 10 Great Overlooked Performances
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To coincide with the launching of Hollywood’s awards season, Turner Classic Movies has released what they describe as an “authoritative list” that “sets out to recognize performances that didn’t get widespread awards recognition.” Included are instantly recognizable names like Marilyn Monroe, Vincent Price, and Tyrone Power. Imagine my surprise and glee to see Ann Dvorak listed for her role as the doomed Mary Ashlon in 1950’s A Life of Her Own.
As I have discussed in the past, Ann’s performance in this M-G-M Lana Turner feature is the one she should have received an Oscar nomination for. Her aging, down-on-her-luck fashion model is in the film for less than 10 minutes but her impact is immediate and lasting, long after she exits the story via a high-rise window. While it’s frustrating that this performance did not receive award recognition at the time, what’s really disheartening is that she would only make a handful more films after this before retiring from entertainment in 1952. As riveting as she was in early performances like Scarface and Three on a Match, these later roles pairing years of experience with her natural abilities really demonstrate the depths of her talents and leave us wishing she would have stuck around just a little bit longer.
Hats off to the fine folks at TCM for recognizing Ann Dvorak and giving her some much deserved laurels.
Click here to see the full list of TCM’s 10 Great Overlooked Performances.
“Heat Lightning†on DVD from Warner Archive
This week, the Warner Archive makes my holiday wishes come true by adding Heat Lightning to their ever-growing collection.
As I had mentioned previously, Heat Lightning is one of my favorite Ann Dvorak films. This tale of a pair of sisters running a gas station/rest stop in the middle of nowhere (it was actually filmed in Victorville) whose lives are turned upside down by their bad taste in men is classic Warner Bros Pre-Code cinema. Ann’s role is a supporting one, but her Myra, a restless youth feeling stifled by her surroundings and her protective older sister is one of the more interesting characters Dvorak played during her five years at Warner Bros. Her breakdown scene towards the end of the film is heartbreaking and truly memorable.
Of course the film really belongs to Aline MacMahon. As Olga, she is tough, brassy, and independent, but proves to be just as vulnerable as the rest of us when an old flame (and bad penny) turns up on her doorstep. Aline and Ann work beautifully together and are completely believable as sisters. It’s unfortunate that the only other time they appeared in the same film, 1934’s Side Streets, they were given little screen time together.
Directed by Mervyn Leroy (who was also responsible for Three on a Match) and featuring a strong supporting cast of familiar 1930s faces like Glenda Farrell, Lyle Talbot, Preston Foster, Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, and Jane Darwell, Heat Lightning is sure to please any Pre-Code fan. Just look at that box art!
This is being advertised as a remastered print, but I am assuming this is the same one that has run on TCM the last couple of years.
Happy Holidays to me. Thanks Warner Archive!
“College Coach†on DVD
This week, the Warner Archive releases another 1930s Ann Dvorak feature on DVD. College Coach co-stars Dick Powell, Pat O’Brien, Lyle Talbot, and contains a brief walk-on by a then little-known actor named John Wayne.
I talked a bit more in-depth about College Coach on a previous post which can be viewed here.
This makes three 1930s Dvorak films to be released by the Warner Archive in less than a month. Looking forward to what else they have in the works, especially if it’s Heat Lightning.