What ever happened to the good ol' days. The good ol' days of film where the movie stars were amazing and the films were romantic and you could just sit back and be taken on a journey to another time and place with the stars of the film leading the way!
I just finished a wonderful book about Cary Grant....
who was truly one of the great actors of all time. Because the studios that produced the films back in the day had such tight control over their stars images there is such a great mystery as to what some of them were like in real life.
The studios had control over what they wore, who they were seen with, even what their names should be. If the name sounded to strange or too ethnic they just went ahead and changed it! ( Otherwise it would have been The Wizard of Oz starring Francis Gumm instead of Judy Garland!)
Cary Grant was a star from the 30's clear through the 60's and there was a time period when in less than two years he made thirteen films! THIRTEEN FILMS! Nowadays stars take years off in between projects.
He could play the charming romantic man, the comedic foil or the sinister Hitchcock leading actor...a guy with a bit of an edge that you weren't sure if you trusted or not?
As I was reading the book I decided to check out some of his more famous films from the library.
I watched Hitchcock's "Suspicion" and "Notorious" and was totally taken aback with how sinister Cary Grant could be in "Suspicion".
And now wonderfully romantic and passionate his connection with Ingrid Bergman was in "Notorious".
I have always loved old movies but for some reason the younger version of myself would never watch a Jimmy Stewart or a Cary Grant movie. Something about their distinctive voices that bothered me. Then as I became an adult I decided that maybe I could listen to those two actors without ripping my hair out and low and behold I was introduced to something wonderful!
If you haven't watched old movies I highly recommend them. They take you to another world, one I wished we lived in today.
The fashion, the manners, the hair styles, the cars! (Holy mama the cars! Who decided it would be a good idea to stop making those incredible cars and make the cars we have today?)
Next week AMC is having a Cary Grant marathon on with some of his biggest hits. I myself have the TIVO going for almost 24 hours to record them.
Who are some of your favorite old time movie stars?
