A blog you should follow: 'My Love of Old Hollywood'

Today I wanted to write a special post about an interesting blog I found the other day: My Love of Old Hollywood. Page, the owner, writes about Actors and Actresses from the silent Era to the 1940s. The info she provides is really amazing (I found several anecdotes that I didn't know) and very easy to digest, plus she makes a special Youtube video roll related with the person reviewed. But the most exciting thing is that she posts about stars whose autographs are in her personal collection, so her entries are illustrated with signatures of Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Fay Wray, Douglas Fairbanks, Jean Harlow, Charles Boyer, James Cagney, Colleen Moore, Una Merkel and more. 

Janet Gaynor's handwritten note.

Charles Boyer's signature. 

"Sincerely, Irene Dunne"

Page explains in her first post And So We Begin:

I get asked a lot about when I started collecting this type of memorabilia and why. The why goes back to about the age of 8. My mother would find a quiet room in our house and sit down to an old black and white movie whenever she could. After seeing the joy on her face and complete contentment while watching The Thin Man movies or hearing her infectious laugh while watching Cary Grant and Kate Hepburn, I wanted a part of it and I found myself just as lost in the beauty of Old Hollywood as she still is today.

My collection started about 15 years ago and it is now at over 250 pieces and growing. The items that I will list on this blog are from The Silents to the 1940's. In no way is this site meant to sell or buy items and its not a place to argue about Star Wars ruling over Hitchcock. Everyone is welcome to comment on the blogs and items that will follow, and hopefully we can keep it all about our love of old movies and the stars that filled the silver screen.

I realize my collection may not appeal to everyones taste and I welcome hearing from and showing anyone else's items from this era. The more the merrier. Just realize that although some collect fridge magnets, matchbooks and even beanie babies, thats a discussion for another site, and I am sure theres a website out there for anything collectible that you can imagine. (Okay, I do collect fridge magnets)...Don't judge me. There will be plenty of time for that later when we get started. : )

Oh, she gave me an foretaste of her next posts including items from her collection: Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh, Gloria Swanson and Elizabeth Taylor. Plus she will post on Myrna Loy next at my request :)

Visit Page's site here: My Love for Old Hollywood. 

* Credits: All the pictures from My Love for Old Hollywood.  

Adventure movies or what I'll be watching in the next few days

So today I went to the last session of the Movie Genres seminar I was attending on Saturdays. The genre we reviewed today was previously chosen by vote and even when the competition was fierce, my option, ADVENTURE, won. Yay! I really wanted to know more about this genre since I just liked it because I love Errol Flynn's movies.

It was really cool to discover new exciting titles that I'm planing to watch and review very soon. Here are some of them:

→ Tarzan the Ape Man (1932; W.S. Van Dyke)
Of course I knew about this one, but it never caught my attention. Anyway, knowing that Johnny Weissmuller was Olympic medal winner swimmer and that even Clark Gable was one of the options to play Tarzan, was all I needed to really wanting to see it. Plus the scene we saw was very exciting, with crocodiles AND hippos trying to eat Maureen O'Sullivan and her people. I'll try to watch the 6 starring Johnny and Maureen.

→ The Thief of Bagdad (1924 and 1940)
I really never heard of this one before. Douglas Fairbanks stars in the one from the twenties playing a thief (that's all I know about it), but the one from the 40's was directed by Alexander Korda and Indian actor Sabu plays the thief Abu and John Justin (never heard of him before but he was gorgeous) plays the Prince that has to rescue the princess from Jaffar. Oh, there's a genius too and a flying carpet. Disney's Aladdin anyone?

→ Moby Dick (1956)
The famous book by Herman Melville, directed by John Huston and starring Gregory Peck. The end.

→ Les tribulations d‘un chinois en Chine (1965)
Based on a book by Jules Verne and directed by Philippe de Broca this is really an adventure comedy set on the Himalayas and the clip we saw was hilarious because of the dialogs and the situations.

→ Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
This is the one that I liked the less, but I'm gonna watch it because:
a) Ray Harryhausen's motion picture effects (they look really outdated in this one but it seems that his work was brilliant and everybody admire him and even in Pixar's Monster Inc. a restaurant is called like him as an homage)
b) John Wayne's son, Patrick, plays Sinbad and Tyrone Power's daughter, Taryn, plays the daughter of an old alchemist, thank you very much.

→The man who would be king (1975)
Three names: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, John Huston. The director wanted to do this movie like all his life, and even wanted Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart to play the leads. Anyway, it's based in a book by Rudyard Kipling, and it's about two English soldiers in an ancient place where Connery is taken as a divinity. Disney's Road to El Dorado?

→White Hunter, Black Heart (1990; Clint Eastwood)
I'm watching this one just because it tells the story behind John Huston wanting to shoot a movie in Africa ("The African Queen"). It seems that what he really wanted was to hunt elephants.There are characters that are supposed to be Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Katharine Hepburn, so I really want to see how that came out, even when the film ends before they start shooting "The African Queen".

Of course more movies were named today. I already saw some of them, like "The African Queen" or "Around the world in 60 days" and I won't see Bernard Herzog's movies like "Aguirre The Wrath of God" or "Fitzcarraldo" because they give me the creeps. 

Day 15- An Actor or Actress you’ve been meaning to give a chance, but haven’t gotten around to it yet

Greer Garson. Seems that she is a lovely lady and a great actress. The only movies I've seen from her are "Random Harvest" and "Mrs. Miniver". I liked them. Fell asleep watching "Julius Caesar" so I couldn't tell (I was sleepy that day).

Bob Hope. Because everyone is talking about him these days and I just have seen him in "I love Lucy".

Orson Welles.  I loved him in "The third man" & "The long hot summer". Saw "Citizen Kane" and it was good. I know he was a very creative guy. But for some reason I avoid movies starring him. Maybe because some of his movies were too dark and depressing ("Touch of Evil" and my-god-that-obscure-film "The process"). He was darkish even as a guest in "I love Lucy".

Hedy Lamarr: I've read tons about her beauty AND brains. "Comrade X" is the only movie I saw from her. Any recommendation?

 Stars from silent films. Soundless movies give me the creeps. Someday I'm gonna develop that point. Saw "It", it was good, but silent. Etc.