Favorite Actresses: 1920 - 1960, Part I

We're almost to the half-way point with my list of favorite classic actors, so I thought this would be a good time to start in on my favorite classic actresses. Maybe I should just finish out one list before I start on another, but after two long posts about the men, I think it's time we showed the girls some love, too. You'll notice that a lot of my favorite actresses are the ones who worked hard to prove that it isn't just a man's world we live in.

1. Debbie Reynolds (born 1932)
Favorite Movie: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Favorite Role: too many to name
Comments: Debbie!!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe how much I love this woman. I mean, what's not to love? I dare you to criticize her... and after you've done that, you can meet me behind the barn: be prepared for a knock-down-drag-out fight. Debbie is everything that I love in an actress: bright and energetic and fully capable of doing drama as well as comedy. Her movies may not always be the best, but Debbie is always good.

2. Ginger Rogers (1911 - 1995)
Favorite Movie: The Major & The Minor (1942), or, Bachelor Mother (1939)
Favorite Role: Polly Parrish, Bachelor Mother (1939), or, Roxie Hart, Roxie Hart (1942)
Comments: From the early '30s to early '40s, Ginger was at the top of her game, popularity-wise as well as performance-wise. During that period, she mostly appeared in comedies, and even though I think she could handle the heavier stuff, there's no doubt in my mind that she's more appealing when she's being funny. With only a handful of exceptions, I have trouble watching Ginger's films from the mid-'40s onward. A big part of that is due to some unfortunate career choices that led her into the land of B-movies. I thought Barbara Stanwyck and Olivia de Havilland were great in these films, but if I'm only thinking of Ginger Rogers, then I have to cop to my disappointment that she turned down the lead roles in Ball of Fire and To Each His Own. If she'd taken those roles and turned down a few of the ones she'd accepted, such as Tom, Dick & Harry, Lady in the Dark, and Once Upon a Honeymoon, her career would have gone in a completely different direction. According to her autobiography, Ginger was also offered the role of Hildy in His Girl Friday, and if you ask me, turning that role down was probably the biggest mistake she ever made as far as her career was concerned. In 1940, Ginger appeared in two films that showed her in top dramatic form, Kitty Foyle, for which she won an Oscar, and the gritty Primrose Path. Her other film that year was the comedy Lucky Partners with Ronald Colman, and much as I love the two lead actors, the film itself is fairly unexceptional, and His Girl Friday would have been far better for her career. What it all boils down to is that I think Ginger was an excellent comedienne - she was never better than when she was cutting someone down to size - and a capable dramatic player, but once she reached the top, she just wasn't able to keep the momentum going and choose the right projects to keep her there. And yes, I know Huey is probably shoot death-glares at me right now, but I'd like to remind him that just because my love isn't blind doesn't mean it isn't true! [Yeah, there were a lot of negatives in that sentence, but I'm tired, so you sort them out.]

3. Barbara Stanwyck (1907 -1990)
Favorite Movie: Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Favorite Role: Elizabeth Lane, Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Comments: I know there are some people - who will remain unnamed - who have expressed distaste for Stany's acting (Dad, what are you thinking?!), but as for me, when I try to think of ways to describe her, the first word that comes to mind is a long, drawn-out, awe-filled, "Wooooow." Seriously, if you look up the word "actress" in a dictionary, this woman's name should be the definition. In her hands, a femme fatale (Baby Face, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers) was the most facinating of creatures, and a woman who lied to the whole country (Christmas in Connecticut, Meet John Doe) was someone to root for. Furthermore, everything I've read confirms that she was a pro, through and through: she always knew her lines and cues, as well as everyone else's, and she knew how to step back and let another actor have the spotlight when the scene required it. A woman like that is the dream of every cast and crew.

4. Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982)
Favorite Movie: Notorious (1946)
Favorite Role: every role she ever played
Comments: Another actress who fills me with awe. I mean, I think about her acting and find myself asking, "how does she do that?" Also, the woman was drop dead gorgeous. *sigh* Why can't we all be tall Swedish goddesses with luminous eyes and perfect bone structure? Why?!

5. Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993)
Favorite Movie: The Thin Man (1934)
Favorite Role: Nora Charles, The Thin Man movies, or, Millie Stephenson, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Comments: There's not much I can say about Myrna Loy that hasn't already been said, but it all deserves to be said again, anyway. The most important thing to say is this: she's wonderful, she's delightful. One of the things that makes her so great to watch is that she always seems to be enjoying her roles so much. Whether it's comedy or drama, you can see right away that she loves it and gives the performance her all. I've seen some half-baked movies starring Myrna, but I've never seen her give a performance less than her best. And her best is so very good.

6. Ann Miller (1923 - 2004)
Favorite Movie: On the Town (1949)
Favorite Role: Lois Lane/Bianca, Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Comments: I love her so much. No matter what, I'm always excited when she appears onscreen because I know she'll always take the energy and pizzazz of a show up a couple of notches just by showing up. I also love to read about her or watch her in interviews because she seemed so amazing and wacky and fun to be around. She's definitely on my list of people I want to meet once my time machine is up and working. Meeting Ginger Rogers would be neat, but I could totally see myself just hanging out with Ann Miller.

7. Jane Powell (born 1929)
Favorite Movie: Royal Wedding (1952)
Favorite Role: Milly Pontipee, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
Comments: Go on and admit it: Jane Powell is just one of the cutest film actresses ever. In her early movies that works to her advantage, but it came back to bite her as she got older and as musicals went out of style. I certainly don't think she's on the level of someone like Greer Garson or Barbara Stanwyck as far as acting is concerned, but I think she could have done non-musical comedies quite well and lasted maybe another ten years or more in Hollywood. If the Powers That Be had just allowed her screen persona to grow up. In Royal Wedding and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (which probably contains the greatest performance of her career), she showed that she was capable of playing characters who were not only her own age but also more than the simple, cookie-cutter, goody-two-shoes characters she usually played. Given a chance, I think she could have done a fair job in westerns, too. Unfortunately, Hollywood has never been good at allowing child actors to grow up gracefully and take on more mature screen personas. People like Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood are exceptions to the rule.

8. Judy Garland (1922 - 1969)
Favorite Movie: For Me & My Gal (1942), or, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Favorite Role: Jo Hayden, For Me & My Gal, or, Esther Smith, Meet Me in St. Louis
Comments: There was I time when I didn't really care for Judy, but my appreciation of her has grown over the years and it continues to do so. I'm not one of those crazy fans who has her face plastered all over my wall and only listens to her music - I'm nowhere near that level of fandom, but I do love her very much. There's something very warm about her screen presence that just draws me in and puts me at ease. On a rainy afternoon or after a long day, there's nothing like a Judy film.

9. Vera-Ellen (1921 - 1981)
Favorite Movie: White Christmas (1954)
Favorite Role: Judy Haynes, White Christmas
Comments: Perfection in dancing shoes. Since this post from almost three years ago (eep! I still can't believe I've been blogging long enough to say that) is one of my most popular posts ever, I'm guessing you all already know how crazy I am about her. If you somehow missed out on this fact, go back and read the post. I still mean every word, and considering how my opinions tend to change (or at least shift a little) as time passes, that's really saying something.

10. Deanna Durbin (born 1921)
Favorite Movie: Lady on a Train (1945)
Favorite Role: Nikki Collins, Lady on a Train
Comments: There's no way to adequately describe Deanna Durbin. She is the essence of grace and elegance, but she's also incredibly funny and not at all afraid to look like a huge dork just to get a laugh. She's a warm and confident woman but also a playful and energetic girl. I'll always be sad that she left Hollywood, but more than that I'm actually happy for her. How many stars of her caliber are able to just walk away and lead normal lives? I'd like it if she'd been in more movies, but I recognize that she really was stuck in a stereotype and her full potential would never have been realized even if she'd stayed. Leaving so early also has another perk: she will never fade. My mind tells me that somewhere in France she has lived a happy life and grown old surrounded by her family, but in my heart she will always be the young and vivacious girl she was in her films.

11. Ruth Hussey (1911 - 2005)
Favorite Movie: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Favorite Role: Elizabeth Imbrie, The Philadelphia Story
Comments: I've seen Ruth Hussey perform well in films like Tender Comrade (1943) and The Uninvited (1944), but she had already made it on my favorites list when I'd only seen her in The Philadelphia Story. She was so perfect as the pragmatic Liz that I just can't wrap my head around the idea of another actress playing the part.

Next up: Greer Garson, Katharine Hepburn, Doris Day, and many, many more.

All images via Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans.

Favorite Actors: 1920 - 1960, Part II

Here we are with round two of my favorite classic actors! In case you missed yesterday's post, I'm classifying classic actors by those who were at their peak professionally in the years between 1920 and 1960, while modern actors are between 1960 and 2012. Don't expect me to follow those classifications too strictly, though, because there are a bunch of actors who are hard to place. Follow this link to catch up on why I love Glenn Ford, Jack Lemmon, Clark Gable, and seven others.

^ With Gracie Allen.
George is the the one on the right.

11. George Burns (1896 - 1996)
Favorite Movie: The Sunshine Boys (1975)
Favorite Role: Al Lewis, The Sunshine Boys
Comments: Maybe the ultimate straight man, George Burns was the perfect foil for wife Gracie Allen's ditzy characters. Still, I always think of him as the funnier one. There's something about his straight face and dry delivery that hits my funny-bone - which is not as painful as it sounds. In The Sunshine Boys, Walter Matthau is delightfully over-the-top and hilarious, but I like Burns' performance best. He's still the straight man, but I find him incredibly funny. And unlike Matthau's sometimes outrageous character, Burns is very easy to relate to and even easier to love.

12. William Powell (1892 - 1984)
Favorite Movie: The Thin Man (1934)
Favorite Role: Jim Wade, Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Comments: I love everything about Bill Powell - even the funny way he runs. I don't think you could ever call him handsome, in fact he was pretty funny-looking, but he's one of those actors who is so good that it really doesn't matter that his eyes were droopy and his mouth was weak. If anything, his weird looks helped him immensely. Many of his contemporaries were dismissed as pretty boys and typecast accordingly, but Powell was able to succeed on pure talent and charisma. Not that the others didn't have those things - it's just that a lot of them weren't taken seriously because they looked good too. Lucky for him, Powell didn't have that problem. Like I said, Powell's appeal lies in his acting, which just wouldn't be the same without those fantastic expressions.

13. James Stewart (1908 - 1997)
Favorite Movie: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Favorite Role: Macaulay Connor, The Philadelphia Story
Comments: It's been speculated that Stewart's Oscar for The Philadelphia Story was sort of a consolation prize for not winning the year before for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). That may or may not be true, but his portrayal of Mike Connor certainly was a high point in his career. I might prefer Grant's performance in the same film to Stewart's, but I can't deny that Stewart deserved the Oscar, too. His Mike Connor is one of my favorite film characters, thanks to all of the little mannerisms and silent expressions that Stewart gave him. I don't really blame the Academy for overlooking Grant in favor of Stewart, either, because it was only after I'd seen The Philadelphia Story about a dozen times that I was able to look away from Stewart's exceptional work and see what Grant was doing in the background.

14. Humphrey Bogart (1899 - 1975)
Favorite Movie: To Have & Have Not (1944)
Favorite Role: Key Largo (1948)
Comments: Of all the actors who died too soon, I think I'm most disappointed that I'll never know what Bogart would have done in his later years. Would he have kept working, appearing in less and less worthy films? Or would he have retired while he was still in demand, like Cary Grant? I'm far from an expert on Bogart or his films, but I know enough to realize that he was one of the best we ever had. Sadly, I can only wonder what would have happened if he'd lived longer.

15. John Wayne (1907 - 1979)
Favorite Movie: Hellfighters (1968)
Favorite Role: George Washington McLintock, McLintock! (1963)
Comments: These days, the Western isn't really my favorite genre, but I was practically raised on them. After science fiction, Westerns were probably what my siblings and I watched the most. And how can you watch Westerns without getting to know John Wayne? He's practically synonymous with the genre! In McLintock!, he was able to do a Western with a comedic twist, which is always my favorite option... unless you go far in the other direction and go for true grit (ha!), that is. More than just playing with the genre, though, McLintock! gave Wayne a chance to show that he really could act. I almost always like Wayne in the roles he played, but I always like him best when he plays fathers. There's a particular scene in McLintock!, when he's talking to his daughter about what he's going to leave her when he dies, that I've always loved. Even when I was a little girl, I thought that was a stand-out scene. It's not just that the scene and his words are well written but also that Wayne delivers the lines and conveys the emotions so well.

16. Errol Flynn (1909 - 1959)
Favorite Movie: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Favorite Role: Robin Hood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, or Jean Picard/Emil DuPont, Uncertain Glory (1944)
Comments: It's pretty weird to talk about people like Humphrey Bogart and John Wayne and then bring up Errol Flynn because he's about as far away from those two as you can get, both as a person and as an actor. Flynn isn't an actor who is easily likened to others, though. Oh sure, you can mention other swashbuckling heroes, but while the roles they played might be similar, Flynn always had his own way of doing things. Take Tyrone Power: his characters in The Mark of Zorro (1940) and The Black Swan (1942) are just the sort that Flynn would've been perfect for, but if he'd played those parts, we'd have totally different movies. Why? Because the actors are totally different. Flynn is totally different. True, he had a tendency to glare his eyeballs out when he tried too hard, but most often his natural charm and incredible energy gave him an ability to tread that line between laid-back and intense that was necessary to so many of his roles. If there's one actor that I can liken Flynn to, oddly enough, it would be Clark Gable because, like him, Flynn wasn't the best actor, but he was far better than anyone gave him credit for. He's one of those actors I mentioned while discussing William Powell: most of his popularity was attributed to his looks, so his talent was too often dismissed. What's even sadder than the lack of appreciation he received in the past and even now, is that Flynn bought it, too, and he never really had confidence in his own skill, which is why I think he sometimes overcompensated.

17. Kirk Douglas (born 1916)
Favorite Movie: The Man from Snowy River (1982)
Favorite Role: Len Merrick, Along the Great Divide (1951), or Harrison/Spur, The Man from Snowy River
Comments: I readily admit that I've seen way too few Kirk Douglas movies, but I don't have to have seen many to recognize the man's talent. Talk about intensity! Seriously, if there was one man in the world who could kill with one look, it would be Kirk Douglas. Also, that voice! I could listen to him read the phone book. There are voices that I like better, but he can put so much emotion into a few words, it's amazing. If anything could make me love Cat Ballou (1965) more, it would be if Kirk Douglas had played Kid Shelleen. Now that would be perfection on film. Just sayin'.

18. Ray Milland (1905 - 1986)
Favorite Movie: The Major & the Minor (1942)
Favorite Role: Major Phillip Kirby, The Major & the Minor, or, Sir Hugh Marcy, Kitty (1945)
Comments: I like actors who can do the dramatic stuff. Even more, I like actors who can handle comedy. If an actor can do both, he's a winner in my book. So there's no way I could leave Milland off this list. He was equally adept at both comedy and drama, and he was also a master of combining the two elements. He was especially good at playing dashing rogues: all charm and flattery but with an undercurrent of intensity and darkness. In Kitty, his character really is scum, but thanks to Milland's portrayal, it's understandable why the heroine falls for him.

19. Gary Cooper (1901 - 1961)
Favorite Movie: Ball of Fire (1941)
Favorite Role: Jess Birdwell, Friendly Persuasion (1956)
Comments: Although I like Gary Cooper, I rarely find myself wowed by his acting. When he's cute and funny, as in Ball of Fire, I think it's adorable, but I'm not swept up in the moment by him. Even in High Noon (1952), he doesn't really blow me away, even though I think he's solid in the role of Marshal Will Kane. In Friendly Persuasion, though, I have to say: I get it. It's kind of easy for me to imagine other actors in Ball of Fire or High Noon, but not in Friendly Persuasion. Jess Birdwell was a role that I can only see Cooper in because I can't see any other actor displaying the same warmth and humor. There are other actors who could play the role, sure, but not with the quiet strength that Cooper had, not with the same ability to show just how much Jess Birdwell loved his family and longed to protect them. I'm a sucker for an actor who can play a husband and father with complexity and humanity and who can make me believe in the love and sense of responsibility for his family that he carries with him every minute of the day, during good times and bad. Of all the actors who have played this kind of role, Cooper did it best.

20. Walter Pidgeon (1897 - 1984)
Favorite Movie: Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)
Favorite Role: Col. Edward W. Hall, Sr., The Rack (1956)
Comments: I had to think hard to figure out how to explain why I love Walter Pidgeon. Unlike the other actors on my list, there's nothing about him that immediately inspires words of adoration and nothing in his career that provides for an interesting social commentary. I got to his name on the list and actually had to ask myself, "Why do I like him?" And for a few minutes, I honestly couldn't think of one thing that makes him stand out from the crowd and puts him on my list of favorites. I just knew I liked him. So I started thinking about the roles that he played, and there aren't that many movies that I think of as real stand-outs for him, performance-wise. The biggest exception, I think, would be his role as Col. Hall in The Rack. That movie was filled with talented actors - it even has my beloved Paul Newman - but Pidgeon is the standout, as a man devoted to the military who realizes too late how much he lost in his relationship with his son. Pidgeon plays Col. Hall with such humanity that the harsh military man is, well, human. I might not always like him, but I sympathize with him: I see the pain that is hidden underneath that rough exterior, and I recognize that he's as broken and helpless as his son. Thinking about The Rack, I realized that this is what I love about Walter Pidgeon: whether he was the tough-love colonel, the determined reporter, or the dedicated company man, he always brought a humanity to his roles that I could relate to. He's like the anti-Marlon Brando. Someone like Brando can wow you with his technique, but his acting lacks that humanity that is needed for me to connect with an actor. Pidgeon, on the other hand, wasn't always the most impressive actor, but he was always human.

Part III is on its way, along with Robert Montgomery, Henry Fonda, and the always delightful Roland Young. So don't turn that dial!

Favorite Actors: 1920 - 1960, Part I

Last time I posted this list, I limited myself to naming only 20 actors, and it was pretty difficult. Well, this year, I realized that cutting my list to include only 20 would be downright impossible. So I'm not doing it. The result is a long, long list of around sixty names, so I'm planning to split my favorite classic actors list into several posts - otherwise you'd get really bored and lose brain cells while trying to read through my list, especially since I'm writing up comments on each actor this year.

It's a little weird, but while I tend to notice and love actresses more, my "Favorites" list for actors is way longer. Why is that? Could it be that I'm more discriminating concerning my own sex? Talk about double standards! I'll have to think on that one.

Anyway, here's the general idea of what I'm planning to do with this over the next couple of months: I'll be posting lists of my favorite classic actors and actresses (who I categorize as those whose peak years were between 1920 and 1960), as well as separate lists of my favorite modern actors and actresses (who are categorized as those whose peak years were between 1960 and 2012). Unlike when I did these lists two years, ago, I'm breaking up classic and modern. Turns out, in the past couple of years I've come to love about 50+ more favorite actors and actresses, making condensed lists impossible to make. I'm not even trying because I know I'd just end up with a whopping headache for my troubles.

While looking at this list, please keep in mind that the names aren't in any order (with the exception of the top two), and this list also changes all the time, so it's nothing definite. Click on the links to read my reviews of the films mentioned.

1. Glenn Ford (1916 - 2006)
Favorite Movie: The Mating of Millie (1948), or, The Gazebo (1959)
Favorite Role: Ben Wade, 3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Comments: Glenn Ford is probably the most natural actor I've ever seen. Watching him is always relaxing because he never looks like he's straining himself: every word and movement seems to come so easily and naturally. By the time he made 3:10 to Yuma with Van Heflin, he was well established as "the nice guy," but in his one truly villainous role, Ford showed everyone that he was capable of going far beyond the nice guy persona. As Ben Wade, he's delightfully evil, and you can tell that he's loving every minute of it.

2. Van Heflin (1910 - 1971)
Favorite Movie: Johnny Eager (1941)
Favorite Role: Sam Masterson, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), or, Mark Dwyer, East Side, West Side (1949)
Comments: Honestly, Van Heflin and Glenn Ford are always battling it out for my favorite actor. They both had very different approaches to acting, so it's hard to compare them, and I'm always switching back and forth between the two. As you might expect, watching them together in 3:10 to Yuma is like a dream for me. Also, I think it's interesting that my favorites of Van Heflin's roles are from the movies where he starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck. Coincidence? Maybe not. Stany always had a way of bringing out the best in the actors around her.

3. Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)
Favorite Movie: The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Favorite Role: C.K. Dexter-Haven, The Philadelphia Story
Comments: Much as I love James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story, if I were in charge of awarding the Oscars that year, you'd better believe I would've given it to Cary Grant. He has a less showy role, that could have been a little on the dull side if casting had been different, but he gave so many layers to C.K. Dexter-Haven that I can't help but think he was cheated when he wasn't even given a nomination.

4. Gregory Peck (1916 - 2003)
Favorite Movie: The Big Country (1958)
Favorite Role: James McKay, The Big Country
Comments: Gregory Peck is one of those actors I'm never going to get over. I'll admit that I have a lot of affection for him because he reminds me so much of my grandfather, but mostly I like him because he's such an amazing actor. The Big Country is full of stellar performances by an impressive cast, but even all together, they can't compare to Peck's pitch-perfect portrayal of the quietly steadfast James McKay.

5. Clark Gable (1901 - 1960)
Favorite Movie: Love on the Run (1936)
Favorite Role: Jeff Williams, Forsaking All Others (1934)
Comments: Gable isn't the best actor, but he deserves more credit than he's usually given. He's mainly remembered for his roles in It Happened One Night (1933) and Gone With the Wind (1939), but I find him most appealing as the loyal man who loves Joan Crawford silently in Forsaking All Others. It's a far cry from his usual, abrasive, fast-talking persona, which is refreshing, and it makes me sorry that he didn't play this sort of character more often. Like Cary Grant in The Philadelphia Story, Gable's role isn't very showy, but he adds "unsuspected depth."

6. Fred Astaire (1899 - 1987)
Favorite Movie: Royal Wedding (1951)
Favorite Role: Ted Hanover, Holiday Inn (1942)
Comments: You might not have noticed yet, but I love it when an actor plays against type successfully. On the surface, his role in Holiday Inn doesn't seem like a far stretch from his usual, charming and well-meaning characters. When you think about it, though, there's no denying that Ted Hanover was a real stinker, and Astaire makes me love to hate him.

7. Gene Kelly (1912 - 1996)
Favorite Movie: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Favorite Role: Harry Palmer, For Me & My Gal (1942), or Serafin, The Pirate (1948)
Comments: I love Gene Kelly musicals with an almost ridiculous passion, but I'll be the first to admit that he rarely gives especially noteworthy performances in them. In most of his films, his natural charm and powerful dancing carried him, and most of his roles are easily interchangeable: Joe Brady could have been in Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) just as easily as Anchors Aweigh (1945). If Astaire always played the nice guy who was mistaken for a cad (think Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee), then Kelly always played the guy who really was a cad and then turned into a nice guy. That type of character might as well have been created just for him: he played it more times than I can count. However, in For Me & My Gal and The Pirate, two musicals whose greatest charms are in the scripts and not just the musical numbers, Kelly got to play the two extremes of that same character, and he's at his best as an actor. The Pirate is pure comedy, and Kelly dives in completely: as the outlandish, cowardly Serafin, he's instantly charming and lovable beyond belief. On the other hand, in For Me & My Gal his Harry Palmer is darker and much harder to like, however, as the film goes on, Kelly makes him someone that you love and hate simultaneously. Serafin is a favorite character because he's so entertaining: Harry Palmer is a favorite because Kelly's acting is unusually powerful.

8. Tony Curtis (1925 - 2010)
Favorite Movie: The Great Race (1965)
Favorite Role: Harry Houdini, Houdini (1953)
Comments: I actually think of Tony Curtis as being a lot like Gene Kelly, and it's not just because they had similar onscreen personas. He may not have been an outstanding dancer, but, like Kelly, Curtis was a master of farce who was also capable of much more. Note: Curtis was hard to place because he was at his highest career-wise throughout the '50s and the '60s, so I made a command decision and placed him in this category.

9. William Holden (1918 - 1981)
Favorite Movie: The Moon is Blue (1953)
Favorite Movie: Born Yesterday (1950)
Comments: I may be in love with Holden's voice, but I think his expressive face is what makes me love him so much. He's one of those actors who can say as much with a glance as he can with a long and glorified speech. I like actors like that.

10. Jack Lemmon (1925 - 2001)
Favorite Movie: The Apartment (1960)
Favorite Role: C.C. Baxter, The Apartment
Comments: I can't think of any actor who embraced comedy as joyfully as Jack Lemmon. There are countless actors who can send me into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, but Lemmon is probably my favorite funnyman. He could and did do everything from playing an obsessive neat-freak to dressing drag and dancing with a rose between his teeth - all the while, still managing to keep his characters relatable and human: that not only takes a great comedian, it takes a great actor.

Stay tuned for Part II, which will include John Wayne, William Powell, more thoughts on James Stewart winning an Oscar for The Philadelphia Story, and much, much more!

All images via Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans

Favorite Quotes: Bob Fosse

"The time to sing is when your emotional level is just too high to speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel." - Bob Fosse

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Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

There are two significant reasons why Christmas in Connecticut is one of my favorite holiday films, as well as being one of my favorite films, period. The first reason is that, while it’s a Christmas movie and it definitely evokes the holiday spirit, it doesn’t veer into overly-sentimental territory (I don't know about you, but when a film does that, my first instinct is to gag). This is largely thanks to the fact that Christmas is really just a plot device to bring the characters together so that the fun can begin. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the best Christmas movies are the ones that don’t rely on Christmas for their appeal and can be watched all year ‘round. The second reason is that this movie has one of the best film heroines you will ever find.

The story follows a classic rom-com formula: heroine tells an innocent lie that turns into something bigger; heroine meets hero, who believes the lie, but she can't tell him the truth for one reason or another; misunderstandings are cleared up in the final act, and everyone lives happily ever after. Not an original storyline, true, but, as always, it's all about execution, and Christmas in Connecticut has enough charm and wit to make the old story seem fresh and original. Another thing it has going for it is one of the best heroines in the history of film.

Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyck) is a modern, independent woman. To the world, the column she writes about her Connecticut farm, growing family, and culinary prowess is gospel truth, but to her it's just fiction. The truth is that she lives in a small apartment in the city, and she can't cook to save her life: she gets all her recipes from her good friend Felix (S.Z. Sakall). She has no problem deceiving the public: for her, this is just the way she makes her living.

Problems arises, however, when the magazine’s publisher, Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet) – who is unaware of her deception and a stickler for the truth, to boot – decides that she should play host to him and war hero Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan) over the Christmas holiday. Now Elizabeth needs a farm, a husband and a baby – and fast!

Silliness ensues of course, especially when Elizabeth starts falling for Jeff, who spends all but the final ten minutes of the movie thinking that she’s married. I’m always amazed by just how twisted the humor and romance are every time I watch this movie. On one hand, I’m seeing it from her perspective: she’s single, her heart is unattached – why shouldn’t she flirt with the handsome naval officer? But on the other hand, I’m seeing it from his perspective: this woman is married with a baby but she openly flirts with him and encourages his growing affection. It’s enough to confuse even me.

As for Elizabeth, she’s one of my favorite heroines ever because, at all times, she holds her destiny in her own hands. Sure, she’s lying, but she could tell the truth at any time, and when she finally does, she doesn’t shrink away from the consequences – she embraces them without hesitation. She’s got four men twisted around her little finger, and she knows it. She actually enjoys her little ruse while it lasts, but the minute it stops being harmless and she realizes how hard she’s fallen for Jeff, she puts a stop to it. Unlike the more common kind of “heroine” that I hate with a passion, Elizabeth doesn’t need her hero to rescue her from marriage to her boorish fiancé (Reginald Gardiner): she can do it herself, thank you very much!

I love the way this character is written, and I adore the way Stanwyck portrays her: sure, she’s not perfect, but she’s got brains to spare, and she’s not about to sit back and wait for anyone else to make the first move. It’s satisfying to see a heroine who is so completely free of misguided logic and so completely in control of her own life. Score one for feminism!

Made in an era when women and most movie heroines were still learning to value themselves with or without a man, Christmas in Connecticut is a breath of fresh air because it shows us a woman who doesn’t rely on a man to guide her or to clean up her mess. Sure there’s a love story in there – and I love it – but for me, this movie is all about Elizabeth’s decision to live the way she wants to and never settle for second best. It's only after she's taken responsibility for her deception and become a woman who values herself that Elizabeth is ready and able to start a real relationship with Jeff.

This is what I love about Barbara Stanwyck: she can take a potentially selfish, unrelatable character like Elizabeth Lane and make her into a woman that I not only root for but admire wholeheartedly. There’s no doubt that Elizabeth’s appeal owes something to screenwriters Lionel Houser and Adele Comandini, but it’s Stanwyck who makes her so great. And this isn’t the only time she’s made such a tricky character admirable: remember Ball of Fire, which was made just a few years earlier? Stanwyck, who embodied what it meant to be a woman with power and confidence, was a true woman’s actress if there ever was one.

Christmas in Connecticut’s message about an independent woman is still relevant today, too. You might hear that being a self-sufficient woman is the norm these days, but there will always be women who measure their self-worth by whether or not they have a man. If you try to tell me you don’t know any women like that, someone’s lying and you’re falling for it. The sad thing is, most of these women don’t even know what they’re doing to themselves, and it’s a mindset that can only bring trouble in the future, when they realize that simply having a man is not the magic solution to everything.

There are a lot of movie heroines who have fallen prey to this way of thinking. Like a woman in the real world, she’ll fool herself and you into thinking that she doesn’t need a man to consider herself valuable, but the minute she finds a man and loses him, you realize just how wrapped up she was in that him, to the point that now she no longer cares what happens to her or who she marries. I’m looking at you, Penny Carrol of Swing Time (1936).

Although the end of Swing Time is funny, it always burns me up inside that Penny becomes a doormat in the final act of the film and needs to be “rescued” from her marriage by Lucky. I’m not blaming Ginger Rogers for this – there’s no way an actress can make this plot device a good thing. No, the fault is all on the screenwriters Howard Lindsay and Allan Scott. Way to take away a woman’s agency, guys. Also, points for perpetuating the idea that a woman’s whole happiness depends on having a man. Eat dirt.

All this brings me back to Elizabeth Lane. She has the chance to settle, which she almost takes, but when she meets Jeff, she’s reminded that there are better men out there and that she deserves to be happy. I love that even when she thinks that Jeff is already engaged, and therefore out of her reach, she still breaks it off with her fiancé and prepares to strike out on her own. She may have initially changed her mind because she found a better man, but she was prepared to stick with her decision because she’d realized that settling is never the right choice.

Looking back at all I’ve written, I’m more than a little surprised that a seemingly simple Christmas comedy has gotten over a thousand words out of me. The truth is, I’ve never considered Christmas in Connecticut so critically before. For me, it’s always been a comedy that makes me laugh, and nothing more, but it makes sense that, after giving it serious thought, I’ve found there’s more to it than meets the eye. I’ve always said that the best comedies are the ones that can touch your heart or make you think when you didn’t expect to, so it’s no wonder Christmas in Connecticut was one of my favorites even before I really thought about its message.

Christmas in Connecticut is not a serious film, though, so don’t shy away from it. If you’re in the mood for a sparkling comedy with excellent characters and dialogue: this is the movie. If you want a film to ease you into the Christmas season without hitting you over the head with saccharine sentiment: this is the movie. And if you want to see a capable heroine in place of a shrinking violet: Elizabeth Lane is the heroine, and Christmas in Connecticut is the movie.

This review is part of Sally’s 12 Days of Christmas blogathan. She’ll be posting the full list of reviews on Christmas Eve, so head over to her blog, Flying Down to Hollywood.