Showing posts with label The Old Maid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Old Maid. Show all posts

Monday, July 16, 2012

Stars Reshining

Over the Hill; 1931


Comebacks in the movies are attaining amazing proportions.  The studios are apparently deciding that old screen names are the best, what with the failure of so many stage players.  Faces you will soon be seeing again are those of Dolores Del Rio, Billie Dove, Agnes Ayres, Olga Baclanova, Anna May Wong, and, most notably, Mae Marsh.  Mae, of course, plays the mother in Over the Hill, replacing Cecilia Loftus.


Mae Marsh




Miss Marsh has never done a talkie.  She was chosen because she was young and a mother.  It was felt Miss Loftus, a veteran stage actress, would perhaps not be suited to the more youthful sequences in the picture.






[Source: Picture Play; July 1931]


Cecilia Loftus




From what I can tell, these starlets tried, but Dolores Del Rio, Anna May Wong, and Mae Marsh had the most success, even though they often appeared in films un-credited.  Cecilia Loftus was a well-known Scottish actress.  She acted in 12 films, 3 in 1931.  Unbeknownst to me, I have seen her in two films: The Old Maid with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins and The Black Cat with Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Matinee Monday: Old Maid (1939)




Watched Old Maid (1939) today in honor of Miriam Hopkins; birthday. I really enjoyed the film. Bette Davis' character has a child out of wedlock and since it was the late 1800s, she went away and had the child, claiming illness. Of course, Delia Ralston (Miriam Hopkins) had to stop Charlotte's (Bette Davis) marriage to another man because of the illegitimate child. When Charlotte becomes widowed, she offers Delia and her illegitimate child a home with her. A touchy relationship between the two women forms based on who really is the mother of Charlotte's child.




Bette Davis was the star, and she did a fabulous job, but I was drawn to Miriam Hopkins. Her portrayal was strong and sympathetic. Miriam gets a bad rap because of her off-screen issues with Bette and other actors, spending her free time with writers instead of Hollywood elite, consulting a psychic before choosing a role, and of course - her suspected communism, but I've loved her in every film I've seen her in from Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde to These Three (when will this film ever come out on DVD?).



Happy 108th Birthday Mims!





LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Share This