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Post by teleadm on Jun 21, 2018 22:44:33 GMT
Judy Holliday had a unique comedy style that you either like or disliked, and I like it. Her movie persona was the squeeky voiced blonde that never was as dumb as she sounded and appeared. Samples of the her too few movies career: Here she sings with BF Gerry Mulligan, using her real voice. Any thoughts?
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Post by kijii on Jun 22, 2018 16:03:25 GMT
teleadm--- I've learned to love her movies. I think I have seen them all. These are some of my favorites: The Marrying Kind (1952) "There are three sides to every marriage: his side, her side, and the truth"kijii 4 November 2016 The combination of George Cukor directing movies written by Ruth Gordon and/or Garson Kanin--who, in real life, were married to each other--and featuring Judy Holliday and/or Aldo Ray seems to have been a winning team in the late 40s and early 50s. Adam's Rib (1949), It Should Happen to You (1954), Born Yesterday (1950), and Pat and Mike (1952) all seem to fit this bill. I have seen all of the above EXCEPT the one I am reviewing here, and this one now seems to be one of my favorites of the group. These movies--like Marty which would follow later--seem to capture the daily lives of middle-class New Yorkers at a time before the world got so complicated with digital media. I was only about 9 at the time these movies were made, but it is nice to see and hear the styles, cars, life and lingo of that period again. Both Aldo Ray and Judy Holliday (as Chet and Florrie Keefer) capture our hearts because they seem to be so serious about their lives, as they screech at each other with those funny, but winning voices. Some of the problems of their young marriage—like the accidental death of their son or a long-term disability--are serious, but others just don't seem that serious. Many of us can relate to in-law problems being blown out of proportion and who did what to whom and when. In a way, when we laugh at this movie, we are laughing at ourselves at some points of our marriage. So, the movie is both cathartic and funny at the same time. As the judge in their divorce case (played by Madge Kennedy) says, (to paraphrase)--there are three sides to every marriage: his side, her side, and the truth. It is fun to hear Chet and Florrie each telling their side of the story while, at the same time, watching the truth playing out on the screen (in flashback).as they talk tell it. --------------------------------------------------------- Born Yesterday (1950) Yes!!! Nailed it!
kijii 5 November 2016 This is Judy Holliday's most famous movie, and it is also the one that she for which she won an Oscar.
Yes, Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) and Billie Dawn (Judy Holliday) are a bit over-the-top, playing one of the most famous mobsters-moll couples in the movies. And, you would probably never have thought of putting William Holden in such a bookish idealistic role as Paul Verrall. But even today--especially today--this is a feel-good movie with a post-war patriotic sub-theme. Who would not want to stand up and cheer when a power-grubbing mobster "gets his" when he tries to buy a Washington politician by using his "dumb" moll as a foil his own corruption and gets caught in his own trap? I personally loved the Washington, D.C. tour, especially the Jefferson Memorial which was dedicated, by FDR, on the exact day I was born. And, I personally met and talked one-on-one to Broderick Crawford, even though it was only in an elevator for 2 minutes. It's kind of nice to know that you once had a private, but brief, conversation with the Best Actor Oscar winner for "All the King's Men" (1949). -------------------------------------------- and It Should Happen to You (1954) Judy Holliday had a unique comedy style that you either like or disliked, and I like it. Her movie persona was the squeeky voiced blonde that never was as dumb as she sounded and appeared. Samples of the her too few movies career: Here she sings with BF Gerry Mulligan, using her real voice. Any thoughts?
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Post by petrolino on Jun 22, 2018 19:56:46 GMT
It's good to read a thread on Judy Holliday because I'm unfamiliar with her work away from George Cukor. I like those Cukor comedies.
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Post by kijii on Jun 23, 2018 0:36:53 GMT
teleadm -- Based on this thread, I just viewed The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) for the first time as a complete viewing. This is a very good comedy very much in the style one would expect with Judy Holliday and Paul Douglas. Here, Judy Holliday upsets the apple cart by attending an annual stockholders meeting as a very small stockholder in a huge corporation. She becomes so much of a pest to the Board that the company hires her to quiet her down and control her. She is given a minimum wage job with the company (with a made up-job description) and a private office. At the same time, the company's founder and president, Paul Douglas, has to sell off all of his stock and retire from the company in order to take an presidential appointment at the Department of Defense. But, just as her other movies, Judy takes on the big guys and ultimately wins her fight. Her reward, a Solid Gold Cadillac and Paul Douglas. This movie has elements of other Judy Holliday classics such as, Born Yesterday (1950) and It Should Happen to You (1954)--pesky stupid-seeming girl takes on the powerful know it alls and the latter totally underestimate her..
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