The Mystery of Marlene Dietrich

 The Marlene Dietrich Selection 

Was she bi-sexual?

Is there an age for beauty?

 The myster I have with Marlene Dietrich this time is what did I do with a film from a 6-dvd collection featuring her?

The movie is Destry Rides Again, with James Stewart.

I haven't thrown it out, it is misplaced by a mixed-up pensioner, I kow it will turn up soon. I had the film in my hand last week, so I know it is in the house

Another Iconic movie from Jean Harlow

 Riff Raff

Jean Harlow

The Jean Harlow Mystery

The Jean Harlow movie Riff Raff is one of hers I am not expecting to enjoy. Not because of Jean, Spencer Tracy, or Una Merkel. I always enjoy watching them, my issuse is with Mickey Rooney, I have seen him in several films, and never enjoyed the film.

Outside this collection, I have several Jean Harlow films, including her debut in The Public Enemy, a film actress Louise Brooks turned down, but made Jean a star. The Public Enemy is most rememberred for Jimmy Cagney's scene with Mae Clarke, and the grapefruit.

Some people class me as riff raff, as I have no formal qualification, yet I am an award winning writer

The Lady Eve

 Barbara Stanwyck

Anna May Wong

Iconic Films

The film I ended yesterday with was the rom-com The Lady Eve, featuring Barbara Stanwyck, and Henry Fonda.The story is about a trio of card players, who try to con a millionaire out of his money, only for Ms. Stanwyck to fall for Henty Fonda

The Devil is a Woman

Marlene Dietrich

Carole Lombard

Cesar Romero

Tonight's entry in the Iconic Movie collection will be the Marlene Dietrich film, The Devil is a Woman. I hope this is a better film than the other film I saw with Cesar Romeron in, Love before breakfast with Carole Lombard. He many be considered a great Latin lover, but to me, his acting is sickeningly cheesy

Iconic Films

 Nightmare Alley

Movie Nights

Film Noir

This film noir movie is about a fairground fortune teller, and shows a side of us, that we cannot avoid.

The story is about how people are judged by their appearance.

I have both version of the film, the 1947 version with Tyrone Power, and the 2021 remake with Cate Blanchett.

The basic storyline is most fortune tellers have a "mark" in the crowd, a person chosen by the teller for the show.

The film is about not breaking rhe Golden Rule of doing a cold call, making a judgement on someone you met a few minutes ago. How many of us do that?

You see a person approaching, and try to judge them, a soft hand means they don't do manual work, a firm handshake usually means a strong personality. NIce clothes means they are paid well, or have money. 

When I was working for Bristol Museum, I met a man who slept on the doorstep of Blaise Castle Musuem, at first glance he didn't look like a typical down-and-out, it turned out a year earlier he had a well-paid job, a wife, and a family. Then things went from bad to worse.

He lost his job, his car, and the wages. After struggling for months, his wife left him, and he lost the house they had lived in. So, he'd gone from running a business to living on handouts in only a year.

I got to know a young lady who had chosen to live on the "fringe" as she found regular life too stressful. She was attractive, polite, friendly, and loving, she had two dogs which were well-fed. One Boxing Day, I went to give her some food, but she'd gone.

The Blue Dahlia

Alan Ladd

Tonight's Iconic film is going to The Blue Dahlia with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, and William Bendix. The story is one similar to what many G.I.'s found after returning home from WW2, their wives had been having affairs while they were away. In some ways, you cannot blame the lady, as she didn't know if her husband would return, or how long he'd be away, many men came back and couldn't adjust to civilian life after the war.

Hold your man

Jean Harlow

This Jean Harlow and Clark Gable movie is about a lady sent to reformatory, after her boyfriend kills a man in a robbery that goes wrong.

Iconic Films

The Hound of the Baskervilles

I doubt there is anyone who hasn't seen, or heard of the Hound of the Baskerville's. It is such an Iconic Film, it has been remixed at least twice in India over the years. I don't know about modern version with the elevated status of movie celebrities, the original was made on Dartmoor.

Dartmoor is also known for the prison which houses the worst criminals in the UK, and yet it is an open prison.

Why is a prison housing the most vicious criminals an "open prison?"

If you recall the film, you need to know the mire to be able to walk across safely; most men are not from the area. One wrong step, and nobody will find you.

The nearest village, Launceston, is 25 miles from the prison; so you could be on the run for hours, and still get nowhere. In all its 220 years, there has only been one successful escape, that was by Frank Mitchell, in the heyday of the Kray Twins. Mitchell known for being a man with a very sort fuse, and his tendency for using an axe was sprung; before he died, Reggie Kray said breaking Mitchell out was his big mistake.

While he was good at his job, his short fuse made Mitchell as much a menace to the gang, as their rivals.

The setting is similar to another iconic film March or Die with Terence Hill, Gene Hackman, and Catherine Deneuve about the French Foreign Legion at the time of the Rif War in Morocco.

Hill's character questions why there are no guards considering most of the men are criminals on the run from the law; to which Gene Hackman's character replies, "There is nothing to stop you. If the desert doesn't get you, the Legion will, if they don't succeed, I will hunt you down."

The Devil is a Woman

Marlene Dietrich

Tonight's movie is The Devil is a Woman starring Marlene Dietrich, also in the cast is the great Latin lover, Cesar Romero. I hope his is as good as he gave in Love before breakfast with Carole Lombard

The Lady Eve

Barbara Stanyck

To end tonight, I saw the Iconic Movie, The Lady Eve, featuring Barbara Stanyck, and Henry Fonda in a comedy romance. My father would turn in his grave if he knew I was watching this, he had a thing against ladies called Barbara.

Md, Stanwyck wasn not only an excellent actress, but a very attractive lady, even towards the end of ehr career