Friday, August 31, 2018

Would You Rather: Classic Movie Edition



Hello, everyone out there in blog world and beyond!   Cordy over at https://writeoncordy.blogspot.com/  is hosting "The Month Of Classics Blog Party" and Katherine and I are participating!  Cordy posted a "Would You Rather" Game, and so here are our answers.  (Katherine's are italic, and mine are regular print.)

Would you rather dance with Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly? I have not seen any of Fred Astaire's movies, (a quick YouTube search showed him to be an amazing dancer), so I'd have to say Gene Kelly.  Gene Kelly

Would you rather star opposite Cary Grant or Gregory Peck? Cary Grant. Definitely Cary Grant!  Oh, Cary Grant all the way!

Would you rather be serenaded by Howard Keel or Bing Crosby? Oh, dear... I only know Howard Keel from 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'. I guess Bing Crosby.  Hmmm, Howard Keel?

Would you rather share an airplane ride with Danny Kaye or Donald O'Connor? Nooooo, don't make me choose! Couldn't I just have one on either side in the middle row? Then no one would squabble about the window seat!  Donald O'Connor

What classic movie outfit would you steal?? (No you cannot say all of them! ;)) Honestly, I can't think of any off the top of my head sitting here, but I do like Audrey Hepburn's ball gown from My Fair Lady!


I think I'll pick this outfit from Emma; this was a hard question for me, surprisingly.



Would you rather be cast in a classic noir film or a classic western? Having never seen a noir film, classic or otherwise, I would have to say Western.  I'll be cast in a classic western film :)

Would you rather go on a shopping spree with Audrey Hepburn or Grace Kelly? Again, I do not know Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of fashion, grace and style so... Audrey Hepburn.  Audrey Hepburn.

Would you rather solve a mystery with William Powell or Myrna Loy? I don't know either of these.  I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with either of these people.

Would you rather imitate Jimmy Stewart's voice in front of Jimmy Stewart, or imitate Maureen O'Hara's "temper" in front of Maureen O'Hara? I love this question! Personally I think it would be hilarious to imitate someone's temper in front of them so that one!  Hmmm....Maureen O'Hara's temper!

Thanks so much for the fun questions Cordy and for hosting the Party, sorry it took us so long to post this!

             


Grace & Katherine             

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Dear Brat Movie Review






Dear Brat (1951) Stars: Mona Freeman, Billy De Wolfe, Edward Arnold, Lyle Bettger, Mary Philips, Natalie Wood, Frank Cady ~ Director: William A. Seiter

Now, this is what I call positively a prominent thing indeed; a third, a THIRD wonderfully witty, and hilarious movie in this charming Dear Ruth series!!  I must confess to you though that Bill Seacroft (William Holden), Ruth Seacroft (Joan Caulfield), and Ziggy (Raymond Roe) were, sadly, not in Dear Brat.  (Pardon me while I go weep bitterly on my fainting couch.............there, sniff sniff, I am back now.  I couldn't find, sniff, that couch I eluded to and therefore my dramatic outburst was utterly ruined in entirety!.......Actually I never stirred an inch from that from which I am sitting.  But you no doubt guessed that already.)  Ruth and Bill are still in the background of the story, as they take a trip and leave their twins to their family's care.

Dear Brat's Storyline:

Miriam Wilkins (Mona Freeman) further maintains her reputation for always conjuring up mischief, by hiring a new gardener.  (Yes, I said gardener). What is so bad in hiring a gardener you may ask?  Well, it does pose a slight problem when that very same gardener is an ex-convict!  And not just an ex-convict, but an ex-convict Judge Wilkins, (Edward Arnold), sentenced himself!

My Thoughts:

You will love this movie!  I am of the opinion that, though I love all of them, "Dear Wife", and "Dear Brat" are my favorites out of the three!  I must say that Miriam's new boyfriend in this movie is rather disappointing.  He honestly wasn't much help at all in the end where Miriam needed him, and after an argument during the movie, both he and Miriam never, really officially made up and ended things happily.  But Billy De Wolf (Albert Cummer) is once again in this movie and he and Mona Freeman play their parts to a T.  I hope you all get all three of the movies in this trilogy!  They were such a joy to find and add to our classic favorites!

     
Well, that's all folks!  Thank you, Cordy, @ http://writeoncordy.blogspot.com/, for hosting this Month of Classics Blog Party; it's been fun!  Talk to you all soon!

~ Katherine ~

P.S.  Here are a few sources for you to buy the "Dear Ruth Trilogy" from:

https://www.lovingtheclassics.com/dear-ruth-dear-wife-dear-brat-film-series.html

https://search.freefind.com/find.html?si=86377007&pid=r&n=0&_charset_=UTF-8&bcd=%C3%B7&query=dear+ruth

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=dear+ruth+movie&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_osacat=0&_odkw=dear+ruth+1941+movie

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Dear Wife Movie Review


Synopsis:

Judge Wilkins (Edward Arnold) knew running for state senator would be hard, but he never thought he would be competing in the race against his own son-in-law, Bill (William Holden)!  But if if isn't bad enough, with rifts forming between the family members, Miriam (Mona Freeman) threatens to drive them crazy with her endless scheming!

Dear Wife was even better than the first movie, Dear Ruth, in my opinion!  Miriam and Albert are fantastic characters; they just heap hilarity into the movie!  Bill and Ruth are such a fun couple, and Judge Wilkins is a great father; you will all love him!  Oh, and Grace just reminded me of Ziggy, a friend of Miriam's - he is hilarious; Grace and I adored him!  This movie will become a new favorite for you, I guarantee it (no, it is not the money back kind of guarantee).  Oh, I just love this movie, so therefore you all must watch this and come to the same conclusion!  

*By the way, if you all are interested in buying the Dear Ruth Trilogy (yes, there are three, isn't it grand?), it is very rare.  I've heard that according to the Berne Convention that after 50 years, a movie becomes public domain.  Therefore, we bought the trilogy on eBay, from someone who was producing copies.  Here is the link to his listing:


https://www.ebay.com/itm/DEAR-RUTH-TRILOGY-1947-1951-DVD-Joan-Caulfield-Free-Shipping/263849790289?hash=item3d6eac4b51:g:qkAAAOSwRWRbQDLF


Hope you all get this movie and love it!


Cordially yours,

~ Katherine ~


Sunday, August 12, 2018

Dear Ruth Movie Review


Synopsis
'Lt. William Seacroft (William Holden), on leave from the Italian front, arrives at the New York home of Ruth Wilkins (Joan Caulfield), with whom he has been corresponding. Unknown to both Ruth and Bill, Ruth's younger sister, Miriam (Mona Freeman), has been writing the letters and signing Ruth's name as part of a program to keep up soldiers' morale. Although Ruth has just gotten engaged to a coworker, she agrees to see Bill and pretend she wrote the letters -- which has unexpected results.' From IMBd

     Let me begin this review by saying that we are preparing to leave on vacation and are running around like chickens with our heads chopped off, soooo this review will be very short and no doubt not do the movie justice! All I can say is watch the movie! My parents have not laughed this much at a movie in a very long time! The acting was superb, the story line excellent and it has William Holden so hey, there you go!

Favorite Characters

The youngest sister Miriam, was my personal favorite character. Her patriotic rants about members of the last generation, war bonds and keeping up the morale of our boys, coupled with her serious expressions and semi-monotone voice gave her such comedic relief.
My second favorite character is Albert Kummer, who plays Ruth's sensible fiancee, assistant to the assistant bank clerk. When Bill comes home and Ruth decided to play along with the charade till he leaves, Albert is less than thrilled and uses every opportunity to play chaperone! His comedic timing is amazing and without him the whole movie would fall apart in my humble, but accurate opinion!

Wrap up

I would totally recommend this movie to everyone; there are no inappropriate scenes, no bad language (that I can remember), and aside from some kissing, no romantic flimflam! I will say that Katherine and I both thought the actress who played Ruth could have done better at portraying more emotion, but she is still very good and it is not such a noteworthy complaint as to miss out on the whole film! I hope you enjoy it and would love to hear feedback if you have seen the movie or hope to in the foreseeable future!

Yours truly
Grace