August 2007 - Vintage Culture

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Vintage Culture - August 2007

Katherine Hepburn- A Pictorial

August 29th 2007 07:24

Katherine Hepburn Pictures

radiating star appeal

"Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done." - Katherine Hepburn

What can be said about arguably the greatest screen actress ever to live, the only woman to recieve 4 best actress Oscars.

Outspoken, feisty and refusing to yield in male dominated Hollywood, this natural red head always spoke her mind and proudly showed her faults as well as attributes to the press.

Now here is a photographic salute to the first lady of cinema and her films.

Hepburn is a dress a rare sight

They didn't like me until I got into a leg show says Hepburn of Hollywood.

The publicity department works overtime

Showing her feminine charms

A Shot form the film Holiday

Bringing up a Baby named Cary Grant

That story in Philadelphia

Bogie aint so tough

The Lioness in Winter

The love of her life Spencer Tracy. They would do 9 films together

A chemistry like no other

Katherine Hepburn Guess whos coming to dinner

Guess who came for a meal

Dont mess with me in this mood

On Fonda Pond

The Duke meets his match

At ease in her famous street attire

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Montgomery Clift – The original Method Man

August 21st 2007 05:02

Montgomery Clift - An American Tragedy

Monty in Colour

"I don't want to be labeled as either a pansy or a heterosexual. Labeling is so self-limiting. We are what we do, not what we say we are." – Monty Clift

When people talk about the great acting revolutionaries of the silver screen the names Marlon Brando and James Dean are generally the ones that immediately come to mind. Ironically both The Wild One and the Rebel Without a Cause worshiped and imitated the complex Broadway star who found cinema success but was destined for tragedy.
“Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.” – Monty Clift

Cool on the outside, turmoil inside

Montgomery Clift was groomed to take on a station in life by his superficial, elitist mother and from a young age was conflicted about his identity. Now common knowledge he was forced by the Hollywood machine to suppress his homosexuality and never overcame his personal demons.
“Look, I'm not odd. I'm just trying to be an actor; not a movie star, an actor.” – Monty Clift

Taking his craft deadly serious and always struggling to break through creatively, Monty immersed himself in characters often staying in the moment after cameras were finished rolling.
"Good dialogue simply isn't enough to explain all the infinite gradations of a character. It's behavior -- it's what's going on behind the lines." – Monty Clift

Brooding with a vulnerable sensitivity that was unfamiliar to the leading men of the time, he made only a limited number of films in his career as paranoia and a disfiguring accident left him forever doubting his own immense abilities. (He turned down Susnset Boulevard, East of Eden and High Noon amongst numerous others)

Discussing a scene with Edward Dymtryx

Appearing on stage at 10 years old and becoming a theatre sensation, it wasn’t until 1948 that he made his film debut opposite John Wayne in the classic western Red River. (Rumour is that on set Wayne was homophobic and supposedly made fun of his co stars acting technique)

The Duke was afraid of being shot from behind

Opposite confidant Liz Taylor and Directed by George Stevens, it was the role of a murderous, money hungry loner in A Place in the Sun (1951) that would define him.

A retroactive poster

Revered equally for his suitably tortured part in From Here to Eternity (1953), this was the last of Clift’s beautiful young man parts. Halfway through shooting his next film Raintree County the now notorious, near fatal car accident not only destroyed his face but also his psyche as a progressive slide into alcoholism and drug addiction began.

Monty and Pearl harbour are forever linked

Appearing opposite rival Brando in The Young Lions (1958), both stars were so daunted by each other that most of their scenes were shot separately and edited together later.

The Acting heavyweights Monty with Marlon

The next year, with most producers unwilling to insure the now unpredictable Clift old friend Liz Taylor secured him the lead in Tennessee Williams Suddenly Last Summer. A film which addressed some familiar issues that no doubt the matinee idol related too.

Suddenly Last Summer the accident changed everything

Working for hard man Director John Huston proved a struggle from the start but The Misfits now stands as one of his last great performances alongside Stanley Kramer’s ensemble piece Judgment at Nuremberg.

Monty as The Misfit

Worthy of all the accolades he was denied, arguably the most influential actors actor of all time, Monty’s life was a sad reflection of the eras morality and the superficial mechanisms of an industry obsessed with packaging images.
"What do I have to do to prove I can act?" – Monty Clift

A rare Home video of Clift at play with Brando

A classic scene with Liz from A Place in the Sun

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Jane Russell

August 13th 2007 05:05

Jane Russell

Jane in style

"Publicity can be terrible. But only if you don't have any." – Jane Russell

Jane Russell, is the voluptuous brunette Bombshell who’s ample bosoms (38D) caught the attention of the eccentric RKO studio head Howard Hughes. Famously making her silver screen debut in the risqué western The Outlaw (1941) which exploited all her attributes and vexed censors. Once released the film was a Box office smash, immediately establishing Jane as a celebrity.
"There are two good reasons why men go to see her. Those are enough." – Howard Hughes on Jane’s appeal.

Some promo shots from The Outlaw

A WWII pinup ogled by males all over the globe, Russell was more head strong and conservative than her image ever projected. She had no allusions about what earnt her fame but was determined to capitalize on it.
"Sometimes the photographers would pose me in a low-necked nightgown and tell me to bend down and pick up the pails. They were not shooting the pails.” – Jane Russell

Things that go bump in the night

Her early career under RKO contract did little but promote the bouncy twins, despite the actresses desire to be taken seriously. Playing a femme fatale in the noir His Kind of Woman which co starred the laid back pot smoking Robert Mitchum was a highlight, though she was defiantly on camera for sex appeal. (See The Paleface, The Las Vegas Story and Road to Bali etc for proof)

Jane and her nice gams

Best remembered for her 1953 part opposite Marilyn Monroe in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes which showcased her comedic talents and finally captured on screen the essence of a gifted performer rather than just physical assets.

Jane and Marilyn play to teh crowd of gentlemen that prefer Starlettes

Working steadily through the 50’s, the period was the pinnacle of her career with starring roles in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes and the Director Raoul Walsh double The Tall Men and The Revolt of Mamie Stover proving her skill as an entertainer.

Jane onset with a guest eyeing the merchandise

Still the dominate parts were empty roles in B grade material with only one thing on its mind. A typical example being John Sturges (Magnificent 7, Great Escape) action adventure Underwater which sold itself on the promise of Jane all wet in a swimsuit.

Jane at work

The 1960’s were less kind and the big screen star made few features instead slumming it on TV to maintain her profile. By 1970 she had enough and it was 13 years before she worked again, on the small screen only.

Jane's Image

Jane Russell’s life was dictated by her beauty but the feisty glamour icon has deservedly earned a place in cinema history as one of the more tragic figures who were chewed up by the system because shallow studio heads never saw past the surface.
"These days I am a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist." – Jane Russell in 2003

A Scene from Outlaw

Here’s Jane singing and dancing “Ain't There Anyone Here For Love?” from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes….with plenty for the girls too.

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Humphrey Bogart

August 7th 2007 02:56

Humphrey Bogart

Tough player

"Acting is experience with something sweet behind it." - Bogie

The lisping cinematic tough guy who became “the stuff that dreams are made of”, Humphrey Bogart appeared in many films as a B actor before finally becoming a star.
"I made more lousy pictures than any actor in history." – Humphrey Bogart

Making his first notable mark on the public in the 1936 film The Petrified Forest, in a role he had already made his own on Broadway, ironically Bogie was none to comfortable with playing the heavy.
"I can't get in a mild discussion without turning it into an argument. There must be something in my tone of voice, or this arrogant face—something that antagonizes everybody. Nobody likes me on sight. I suppose that's why I'm cast as the heavy." – Bogie

Blending into the darkness

Rising up through the Warner lot in 1938 he appeared in Angels with Dirty Faces alongside gangster #1 James Cagney. The following year the Roaring Twenties was released again he was in James Cagney’s shadow.

Still not a fully fledged star, a role in Dark Victory beside Bette Davis earnt him further industry notice. Raoul Walsh’s They Drive By Night saw him onscreen with George Raft (Some like It Hot, Manpower, Intrigue), but it was his 38th film, High Sierra that finally showed he could carry a picture.

Working with Howard Hawkes has its advantages

Famously joking that he wouldn’t have had a career without the roles that George Raft rejected, (Eg: Casablanca and High Sierra). The long faced rogue never looked back, continuing to establish himself as one of the biggest stars of the day with classics like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca on the horizon.
"Acting is like sex: you either do it and don't talk about it, or you talk about it and don't do it. That's why I'm always suspicious of people who talk too much about either." - Bogie

A Bird and a PI become a legend

By the mid 1940’s he was a household name and famously the onscreen chemistry between his 19 year old co star in To Have and Have Not translated into being the off camera love of his life and 4th wife Lauren Bacall.
"I'm a one-woman man and I always have been. I guess I'm old-fashioned. May be that's why I like old-fashioned women, the kind who stays in the house playing 'Roamin' in the Gloamin'. They make a man think he's a man and they're glad of it." - Bogie

The great romance

Working steadily, bucking authority any chance he got Bogie and cohorts like Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson went partying in Vegas one weekend and on seeing the aftermath Bacall quipped "You look like a god damn rat pack.”, the rest is history.

Bogie plays it cool

Improving with age and refining his trademark no bullshit attitude, highlights in this later period included the John Huston Directed The Treasure of Sierra Madre and The African Queen. In A Lonely Place, The Desperate Hours, The Left Hand of God and We’re No Angels also stand out as quintessential moments.
"Democrat in politics, Episcopalian by upbringing, dissenter by disposition."- Bogart describes himself

Gold corrupts absolutely

The ahead of its time anti war, black comedy Battle Circus boldly challenged convention in a way not seen again until Robert Altman’s MASH. His final film appearance in The Harder They Fall is as solid as his best work in a story of moral corruption within the boxing game.

Hepburn matches Bogart in wit and mind

Passing away on the 14th of January 1957 of throat cancer the hard drinking, hard smoking, lover of sailing is now listed as one of the great screen legends. Persistence and raw talent earned the tenacious thespian his place and a healthy attitude to the industry and the Hollywood game are what sustained it.
"I came out here with one suit and everybody said I looked like a bum. Twenty years later Marlon Brando came out with only a sweatshirt and the town drooled over him. That shows how much Hollywood has progressed." - Bogie