February Period Drama Tag Questions

 1).  What period dramas have I watched in February?

Sadie Thompson (1928)
The Secret Garden (1974) BBC version
His Girl Friday (1940)
I Was A Male War Bride (1949)
The Amazing Adventure (1937)
Bringing Up baby (1938)
Penny Serenade (1941)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Gentlemen's Agreement (1947)
Sleep, My Love (1948)
The Southerner (1945)
Dear Wife (1949)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

2).  How many Charles Dickens adaptations have I seen?

Only one so far:   Great Expectations

3).  Do I prefer heroes who are spotless wealthy men or gritty hardworking men?

I cannot really pick one over the other.  John Thornton is my ultimate hero and he was a bit of both.  

4).  Do I prefer heroines that are sweet and gentle or adventurous and spunky?

Adventurous and spunky, but sweet too.

5).  Do I enjoy listening to period drama soundtracks?  Do I own any?

Yes I do enjoy it, but I don't have any except for the free download of BBC North & South.  (Xenia hangs her head in shame)

His Girl Friday

Over the weekend I watched Howard Hawk's His Girl Friday.  The movie stars Carey Grant as Walter Burns, Ralph Bellamy as Bruce Baldwin and Rosalind Russell as Hildy Johnson.  This is one of the most screwball comedies films I have ever seen.  One of the most notable aspects of this movie is the rapid fire speaking.  You have to be really good to speak that fast without messing up.  His Girl Friday is based on a play title The Front Page.  

Carey Grant, Rosalind Russell and Ralph Bellamy in His Girl Friday promotional photo.

In His Girl Friday Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson were once married.  Walter is the editor of The Morning Post and Walter takes his job very seriously.  Maybe a little too seriously.  While he was married to Hildy, Walter was not the best husband.  All Hildy wanted was for them to settle down and have a family, but Walter was too busy being a hard nosed news editor.  Hildy divorced Walter but he was not a willing participant in the divorce.

After the divorce, Hildy informs Walter that she is getting married again to an insurance salesman.  This news throws Walter into a tailspin because he is still in love with Hildy and wants her back.  

Walter takes Hildy and her fiance Bruce Baldwin to lunch pretending to be celebrating their upcoming marriage.  In reality Walter is plotting to break them up.  
  

Walter will do anything to break up Hildy and Bruce, including having Bruce arrested multiple times on trumped up charges and kidnapping Bruce's mother.  Carey Grant is hilarious and really good at comedy.  Walter also gets Hildy involved in one more serious news story about a man named Earl Williams who is convicted of killing a black police officer.   Also, the mayor is crooked and wants to see Earl Williams executed so that he can pick up votes in the next election, but Earl Williams is really no murderer.   

Rosalind Russell and Carey Grant are really great together.   Howard Hawk's first choice to play Hildy Johnson was Carole Lombard, but she came with a huge price tag.  Other actresses who were offered the role of Hildy were Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Claudette Colbert and Margaret Sullivan but they all turned it down.  In the original story Hildy Johnson is a man, but Howard Hawk's decided to make Hildy a woman and ex-wife to Walter Burns.    
 

 I also love the clothing.  Everyone in the cast wore excellently tailored clothes.  That was the norm during those days and it is something that has definitely been lost.  Costume design was by Robert Kalloch.

The ending of this movie is quite predictable but very entertaining getting there.

I streamed this movie on Netflix.



      

Period Drama Tag Questions

Below are my answers to the Period Drama tag questions:

1) What period dramas did I watch in January?  Arch de Triump, A Lady for a Day, Romeo & Juliet, The Robe, The Agony & The Ecstasy, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry, The Bells of Saint Mary's, Becket, Brief Encounter, About Mrs. Leslie.  I tried watching Downton Abbey but it hasn't been able to hold my interest as it does for so many.

2) Do I prefer period dramas peppered with humor or laced with dark emotions?  Definitely peppered with humor.

3) What was the first period drama miniseries that I ever watched?  Upstairs Downstairs on PBS.

4) How many Jane Austen Adaptations have I seen?  2005 Pride & Prejudice, 1995 Pride & Prejudice, 1940 Pride & Prejudice, 1980 Pride & Prejudice, 1995 Persuasion, 2007 Persuasion,  1996 Emma, 1983 Mansfield Park, 2008 Sense & Sensibility, 1995 Sense & Sensibility.

5) What period drama that I have not seen before am I most looking forward to seeing in the future?    Les Miserable that is in theaters right now.    

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry has got to be one of the weirdest movies I have ever seen.  I streamed this last night on Netflix.  It was originally released on August 17, 1945.  The movie stars George Sanders as Harry Melville Quincey, Geraldine Fitzgerald as Lettie Quincey, Moyna MacHill as Hester Quincey, Ella Raines as Debora Brown and Sarah Allgood as Nona.

 George Sanders and Ella Raines as Uncle Harry and Deborah Brown.

Hmm...where do I begin?  Harry Quincey is a middle aged bachelor who lives in a huge house with his two sisters Lettie and Hester.  Lettie is very spoiled, doesn't work and likes to lay around in bed pretending to be sick so that she can be the center of attention.  Lettie is especially needy of Harry's attention which is very weird.  Hester is the widowed sister who moved in after her husband passed away.    The Quincey family used to be quite wealthy but lost their fortune during the depression    Harry went to work in a fabric mill to support the family.  Since Harry is older he is known as uncle Harry at the mill.  Harry has been looking after his sisters for years and seems content with his life until he meets Deborah Brown at the factory.  Deborah arrives at the factory from New York as a new fabric designer.

   

Deborah and Harry are attracted to one another and fall in love.  At first I was not so sure if Deborah was just using Harry, but since she stuck around for so many months waiting to marry him I figured she really did love him.  

Hester is very happy for Harry and encourages the relationship.  Hester always wanted Harry to fall in love and get married.  Lettie on the other hand is not happy.  Lettie does not want Harry to ever get married and for her to remain his center of attention.  How weird is that?  Lettie does not like Deborah and becomes jealous of her.  

Lettie meeting Deborah for the first time.  

 

Geraldine Fitzgerald as Lettie Quincey.

Harry and Deborah become engaged and decide to make the huge Quincey family home their residence.  This means that Lettie and Hester will have to move out .  Lettie finds something wrong with every house she and Hester looks at.  Harry and Deborah are waiting for Hester and Lettie to move out so they can get married and she can move in.  Deborah does not want to move in while the two sisters are living there and I don't blame her.  Lettie was way too creepy. 

     

After six months of Lettie being uncooperative about moving out Deborah confronts Harry about it.  Just like Hester, Deborah realizes that Lettie is deliberately trying to separate her from Harry.  Harry and Deborah decide to get married anyway and move to New York.  The plan is thwarted when Lettie feigns another illness and is carried away from church services in an ambulance.  Deborah tells Harry that he has to choose between her and Lettie.  Herry chooses to remain in Corinth to make sure that Lettie is really okay and that is when Deborah throws in the towel.

Some time later everyone in Corinth finds out that Deborah is engaged to another man.  All of a sudden Lettie feels better and jumps out of bed happy.  Hester confronts Lettie and accuses her of deliberately ruining any chance of happiness that Harry could have had with Deborah.  They have a huge argument and Harry realizes that what Hester said is true.  

I am not going to say anymore about this movie.  If you want to know what happens after Hester and Lettie have the argument you will have to watch the movie.   The above screen-cap is actually shown at the end of the movie so I will not disclose the ending or anymore about this film.  

George Sanders and director Robert Siodmak on the set of The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry.

Gerald Fitzgerald, director Robert Siodmak and George Sanders during production.

 

Movie sets for The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

Screen caps of Ella Raines in The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry.
 

 

I must give an honorable mention to actress Sara Allgood who plays Nona, the housekeeper for the Quincey family.

This is a weird and interesting movie with a surprising ending.