Wonderland Burlesque's
Let's All Go To The Movies:
With Or Without
Part VIII
As the say in show biz: some got it, some ain't.
To do with or without?
That appears to be the question. And these are the girls with the all the answers.
Or so these films would have us believe.
Let's take a peek at what the world of cinema has to offer when it comes to the haves and have not.
Either way? It's movie magic!
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Girl With The Hatbox
(1927)
Natasha and her grandfather live in a cottage near Moscow, making hats for Madame Irène. Madame and her husband have told the housing committee that Natasha rents a room from them; this lie gives Madame's lazy husband a room for lounging. The local railroad clerk, Fogelev, loves Natasha but she takes a shine to Ilya, a clumsy student who sleeps in the train station. To help Ilya, Natasha marries him and takes him to Madame's to live in the room the house committee thinks is hers. Meanwhile, Madame's husband pays Natasha with a lottery ticket he thinks is a loser. When it comes up big, and Ilya and Natasha are falling in love, things become very complicated.
This Soviet silent romantic comedy-drama was directed by Boris Barnet and stars Anna Sten, Vladimir Mikhailov and Vladimir Fogel.
The picture was commissioned by the People's Commissariat (Narkomfin) to promote government bonds and was a success with the audiences and the critics alike.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
Anna Sten
Anna Sten was a Ukrainian-born American actress. She began her career appearing in stage plays and films in the Soviet Union. Girl With The Hatbox was her second film and her first starring role. She then traveled to Germany, where she starred in several films. Her performances were noticed by film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who brought her to the United States with the aim of creating a screen personality to rival Greta Garbo. After a few unsuccessful films, Goldwyn released her from her contract. She continued to act occasionally until her final film appearance in 1962. She worked opposite such notables as Emil Janning, Gary Cooper, Hedy Lamarr, George Sanders, Frederic March, Margaret Sullavan, Robert Cummings, Clark Gable, and Susan Hayward.
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Girl With Hyacinths
(1950)
AKA: Flicka och hyacinter
The young Dagmar Brink commits suicide. Her belongings are inherited by the resident caretaker in the house she lived in. The caretaker, who never knew her, wonders why and make contact with the people who knew her to find out why she killed herself.
This Swedish drama was written and directed by Hasse Ekman and stars Eva Henning, Ulf Palme, Anders Ek and Birgit Tengroth.
According to the Ulla Billquist documentary When the Clouds Clear (2016) this is based on her fate. Billquist was a Swedish female schlager singer who was most successful during the early 1940s.
Eva Henning
Girl With An Itch
(1958)
AKA: Girl On The Highway
A lonely, widowed middle-aged ranch owner gives a ride to a sexy blonde hitchhiker, When she finds out about the ranch he owns, she figures that he'll be an easy mark, but his suspicious son could spoil her plans.
This American drama was directed by Robert V. Ashcroft and stars Kathy Marlowe, Robert Armstrong, Robert Clarke, and Scott Douglas.
In an interview, star Kathy Marlowe recalled that in the scene where co-star Robert Clarke's character was supposed to be drunk, Clarke couldn't "act" drunk, so he actually went out and got drunk in order to finish the scene. This caused director Ronald V. Ashcroft no end of problems since the scene had to be reshot several times because Clarke, in his drunken state, couldn't remember his lines.
You can watch this film in its entirety for free on YouTube.
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Girl With Green Eyes
(1964)
Awkward young Irish farm girl Kate Brady moves to Dublin and shares a room with funny, outgoing Baba Brennan, where she soon meets middle-aged writer Eugene Gaillard, who is immediately attracted to the shy and innocent Kate and ignores the more sophisticated Baba.
Adapted by Edna O'Brien from her novel The Lonely Girl, this British romantic drama was directed by Desmond Davis and stars Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave and Julian Glover.
Desmond Davis was a well-respected camera operator, who was understandably very nervous when Woodfall Films hired him to direct this film. His nervousness increased significantly on the first day of shooting when leading man Peter Finch, who'd shown up somewhat drunk, told him, "You know, mate, I could really fuck you up if I wanted to." Davis later said, Finch was, in fact, the soul of professionalism and an excellent actor.
True to his reputation as a hell-raiser, Peter Finch made the round of the bars after work. Said Desmond Davis, "He had a car and a driver and the driver complained after about a week that because of Peter he was never getting home at all, and in the end we had to have two drivers for his car; one for the day and one for the night. God knows where Peter went around Dublin all night and God knows what he did but he was never late for his seven o'clock morning call, and he always knew his lines, absolutely."
Desmond Davis had two weeks of rehearsals with Peter Finch and Rita Tushingham before filming began in Dublin, Ireland.
At the time of filming Lynn Redgrave was executive producer Tony Richardson's sister-in-law, as he was married to Vanessa Redgrave. They divorced in 1967.
Critic Bosley Crowther said of this film, "Girl with Green Eyes is another of those remarkably fresh and natural films that have come from the Woodfall organization, which is sparked by protean Tony Richardson and which has given us such a dazzling range of pictures as A Taste of Honey, Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Tom Jones. While it is not as ambitious or extensive as any of those, it is a wonderfully tender, touching and humorous little drama of a lonely Irish girl."
For their work on this film, Rita Tushingham was nominated for a BAFTA as Best British Actress, and Lynn Redgrave was nominated for a BAFTA as Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.
P.S. As the film is in black and white, the green eyes are never seen.
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Girl With The Golden Panties
(1980)
AKA: La Muchacha de las Bragas de Oro
Luis is an aging Falangist (some historians consider the Falange to be a fascist movement based on its fascist leanings during the early years, while others focus on its transformation into an authoritarian conservative political movement) author with a guilty conscious. He currently spends his time writing fake memoirs. Two reporters, his niece Mariana and her lesbian friend Elmyr, arrive to do a piece on him. While fact-checking his memoirs Mariana becomes attracted to him.
Based on the 1978 novel by Juan Marsé, this Spanish thriller/drama was directed by Vicente Aranda and stars Victoria Abril, Lautaro Murúa, Hilda Vera and Perla Vonasek.
Director Vicente Aranda had hoped to make a film about the Spanish Civil War, but due to the cost of that project he, instead, turned to the new novel by Catalan author Juan Marsé, a controversial winner of the 1979 Premio Planeta ( the Spanish Booker Prize).
The film was originally intended to be made cheaply using just a few interior settings. However, Aranda was able to increase the budget with money from Venezuelan producers and added exterior locations to the script, thereby allowing him to film in a calculated chiaroscuro that alternates light and shadow as a way to illustrate the truth and lies of the protagonist, Luis.
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And that's all for now, folks.
Tune in next time...
Same place, same channel!
Girl With Green Eyes - Movie Trailer
(1964)
Girl With The Golden Panties - Movie Trailer
(1980)
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