1 ~ Clark Gable ~ Gone With the Wind

Clark Gable was dubbed the “King of Hollywood” in the 1930’s, a title that would remain until his death in 1960. For over 40 years his face and masculinity hit the big screen and he became one of the first “Superstars” before that name was ever coined. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 7.

His role as Rhett Butler, the man who tried to tame Scarlett O’Hara is now legendary. One of the greatest film roles to ever be made, and no one else but Gable could have pulled it off. Decades later, Gable would say that whenever his career would start to fade, a re-release of Gone with the Wind would instantly revive everything, and he continued as a top leading man for the rest of his life.

Some say that his last film role in the Misfits with Marilyn Monroe was his finest, but His role as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind is by far the most memorable.

2 ~ Jimmy Stewart~ Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is my favorite Jimmy Stewart movie and was nominated for eleven Academy Awards in 1939, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart), a small town patriot, gets appointed to the U.S. Senate by the political machine in his state whose masterminds think they can control him. Upon arriving in Washington, the new senator is so enthralled at his first visit to the nation’s capital that he decides to go sightseeing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so thrilled in my whole life, and that Lincoln Memorial! Gee Whiz! And Mr. Lincoln, there he is. He’s just lookin’ right straight at ya as you come up those steps. Just, just sitting there like he was waiting for somebody to come along.”– Senator Smith.

Jimmy Stewart was the best actor to paly the “aww shucks” naive charecter better than anyone else. A close second was Gary Cooper in Seargent York. But this movie Jimmy really shinned. The ultimate “do-gooder” finding out the reality of not just his job as senetor, but life.

1 ~ Judy Garland ~ The Wizard of Oz

Arthur Freed had approached L.B. Mayer in 1937 to get permission to buy the movie rights to The Wizard of Oz expressly as a vehicle for Judy Garland. Everyone on the lot was certainly aware of Judy’s talents, and they were all determined to make Judy into a major star. The Shirley Temple story has been greatly exaggerated over the years. Shirley was never seriously considered for the part of Dorothy. Executives at Loewes, Inc., owner of MGM, were nervous about having Judy in the lead of such an expensive film, since her box office popularity was — as yet — not well established. So they insisted that Mayer test Shirley Temple for the part. Shirley was the biggest box office draw in Hollywood at the time. Roger Edens, Judy’s vocal coach and greatest supporter was sent to Twentieth Century-Fox to test Shirley’s singing voice, and of course he reported back to MGM-boss Louis B. Mayer that there was no way Shirley could play the part. Besides, there was no way Fox would even consider loaning her out. So that’s all there was to that.

Judy won a special miniature Oscar for “most outstanding performance by a juvenile.” It was the only Academy Award Judy ever received, though she was nominated on two other occasions. She referred to the miniature statuette as her “Munchkin Award.”

Judy was sixteen years of age when she made The Wizard of Oz. She was not seventeen, as is so often indicated. This misconception probably comes from the fact that the movie was released in 1939 and Judy was born in 1922: 17 years difference, voila! But the fact is that by the time Judy’s 17th birthday came around on June 10, 1939, she was busy at work on Babes in Arms. Principal filming on Oz began in September 1938, and was completed around the end of March 1939.

No other movie or song is as completely associated to an actor or actress than Judy Garland and the Wizard of Oz and Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

2 ~ Olivia de Havilland ~ Gone With the Wind

Most people would have placed Vivian Leigh’s role as Scarlett above that of Olivia de Havilland’s performance as Melaine Wilkes in Gone With the Wind. However, I am not most people. Olivia’s portrayal of the enduring, loving and compassionate alter ego of Scarlett was one of the finest performances in the movie. She captured my heart the moment she appeared on the screen. While the film’s producers scoured the nation looking for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara, de Havilland was one of the few ‘name’ actresses at the time not pleading for the role. Instead she wanted to play Melanie, a supporting role, and she convinced Warner Brothers to “loan her out” to a rival studio for the production.

Many say her role was not a big stretch, as she was much like Melanie. This may or may not have been the case, but she made Scarlett seem so much more self-centered and sometimes even vile. Her constant presence kept Scarlett real and humane.

Olivia is the last remaining principal cast member of Gone with the Wind and lives in Paris, France at the age of 91.

Worst of 2006 ~ Date Movie ~ 4

Some movies should never be made, this is true. Some date movies I am speaking of. You know those sappy romantic comedies that we love to hate. However spoofing those types of movies should also not be made. Romantic comedies are sometimes good (however this is rare) but making fun of them are even worse. I didn’t care for Scary Movies 1,2,3,4, or 10. And Date Movie is another in a long list of movies that thrive on poor taste and really bad jokes. If you want to get rid of a date, take her to see this movie, if you do chances are you will never hear from her again. D

1 ~ The Wizard of Oz

No other film has been seen as many times, nor has no other film been replayed, recast and reviewed on the stage as many times. Judy Garland became Dorothy and in the minds of many she actually was Dorothy Gale. Even though this film upon it’s release did not fair as well as some of the other films released that year (such as Gone With the Wind) it has become the best known, best loved and most seen movie ever. Listed as # 6 100 GREATEST AMERICAN MOVIES OF ALL TIME, Wizard of Oz is a movie for the entire family for the ages.

I reacall as a child that every year this film would be seen on TV I think during the Easter Season, and I could not wait to watch it. However I would watch it on my grandmother’s Black and White TV and didn’t realize until 1968 or 1969 that almost the entire movie was in color. The first time I seen the color version when Dorothy opens the door into Munchkinland I was mezmorized.

Winner of three acaedmy awards including best song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, The Wizard of Oz is the top of my list for the best films of the 1930’s and rates at the top 5 of my favorite movies of all time.

2 ~ Gone With the Wind

Margaret Mitchell wrote a moving, powerful, exciting and colorful book about a young woman and her trials and tribulations during the Civil War period of our history. Her book was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. It was the only book that Mitchell published in her lifetime, but it became one of the best-selling American novels of the 20th century, surpassed only by Valley of the Dolls in the late 1960s. Less than 4 years after it’s release Mitchell’s book came to life and was forever immortalized in David O. Selznick’s theatrical masterpiece, Gone With the Wind.

Named as the 4th top 100 American films of the 20th Century, Gone with the Wind is a masterpiece in film. Both in cinematography, music score, visual effects, direction and acting. No other movie is better known that Gone With the Wind, except for maybe my # 1 pic. Today almost 70 years after it’s release it is as the characters and the story were not fictional characters but real live humans living during a time of American tragedy. It forever etched the names Clark Gable, Viven Leigh, Scarlett and Rhett inot our vocabularies and histories. It gave us a look at the roles (however un-real) of the effect slaves had on the south, and it also presented a female as a heroic figure for possibly the first time. The character of Scarlett is the most memorable heroine in film history and quite likely the greatest feminine role ever adapted for the screen from a novel. Vivien Leigh’s performance is no less than spectacular. It was Miss Leigh’s great fortune to have played not only Scarlett but A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE’s Blanche DuBois, who is arguably the greatest role ever written for a stage play. Gone With the Wind changed the way movies were made, and the way movies were watched.

3~ Spencer Tracy ~ Captains Couragous

This is the first movie that I remember made me cry. I fell in love with Spencer Tracy, the sea-wary fisherman, with a heart of gold.
When a young rich kid is accidentally thrown overboard a luxury liner and is found by a fishing boat a relationship ensues that changes both the young boy and Tracy’s character, Manuel Fidello.
Tracy had that look and appeal to carry off being rough around the edges but pure of heart, better than any actor that has ever graced the big screen. He was the guy that you wanted as a father or a close uncle. And he showed it in this film more than any other. His Oscar winning performance has endured over 7 decades.

4~James Cagney ~ Angels with Dirty Faces

“Angels With Dirty Faces” (1938) is perhaps one of the truest classic gangster films and has been a favorite among classic film fans. The story begins with Rocky Sullivan ( James Cagney ) and Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien), kids who grow up in Hell’s Kitchen, a rough part of New York, and who have to become tough to exist. Cagney received his first Best Actor nomination for his performance in this film, one of the film’s three unrewarded nominations (Best Director – Michael Curtiz, and Best Original Story – Rowland Brown), and he lost to Spencer Tracy’s performance in Boys Town.

3 ~ Vivian Leigh ~ Gone With the Wind

No top actress list of the 1930’s and 40’s would be complete without Vivian Leigh. with only 19 roles credited her in IMDB, she was nominated twice for the Academy Award and won both times. A nationwide casting search for an actress to play the Southern belle Scarlett resulted in the hiring of young British actress Vivien Leigh, although over 30 other actresses (some well-known, and some amateurs) had been tested or considered including: Katharine Hepburn, Miriam Hopkins, Susan Hayward, Loretta Young, Paulette Goddard, Margaret Sullavan, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Lana Turner, Joan Bennett, Mae West, Tallulah Bankhead, Jean Arthur, and Lucille Ball. Vivien at the time was in the states with her lover and soon to be husband Lawrence Olivier when she was asked to audition.

No other actress is as well known for a role than Viven Leigh as Scarlett. She stole the screen in every scene, she epitomised the term Southern Belle, even though she was born in India and raised in England. Vivien went on to play other pwerful roles, such as her other Oscar winning role as Blanch Dubouis in a Streetcar Named Desire, but she will eternally be remembered as Scarlett O’Hara.