daniel_white-40631

This is not a great film but it is a must see for all those Barbara Stanwyck fans out there (of which I am one). She plays Joan Boothe,a housewife who while visiting Las Vegas with hubby Robert Preston gets the gambling bug. She quickly becomes addicted and descends into the seedy, dirty world of the compulsive gambler. The movie attempts to psychologically explain why La Stanwyck has an addictive personality but really who cares. Sit back and watch the masterful Barbara portray a sick, out of control addict. She bankrupts her husband, gets beat up , screws up a horse racing con, prostitutes herself. This is grim stuff but in the hands of the brilliant Barbara Stanwyck it is worth watching. Barbara Stanwyck was the greatest of all the leading ladies from the golden Age of Hollywood. Versatile, compelling and oh so watchable she was a natural infusing every scene she played, with a believable humanness. Joan Crawford could have played this and done so fairly well but she wouldn't have been as good as Stanwyck. I just got finished watching a bunch of her movies and I am giddy with Stanwyckitis. I am addicted! Thank God the lady made 80+ movies-I can keep watching for a while before I run out of Barbara and withdrawal sets in!

"Niagara" does not hold up very well as a movie, plot wise. What starts off as a promising film noir thriller (In Technicolor) soon descends into implausibility and silliness. However you cannot deny the cinematic power that Marilyn Monroe possesses. She is mesmerizing if not a top rate actress. She plays Rose Loomis an unhappily married woman who decides to dispose of her husband (played by a very gloomy Joseph Cotton) with the aid of her lover. Jean Peters and Casey Adams play a couple on their honeymoon whose lives get intertwined with the Loomis'. This all takes place within the breathtaking view of Niagara Falls. Monroe is a natural as a film actress. The camera loves her and she knows instinctively how to play to it. Jean Peters who is a good movie actress in her own right doesn't stand a chance against la Monroe. I am a Marilyn Monroe fan and even in this second rate movie she is worth watching. Tune in for her, Niagara falls and the beautiful cinematography but as for the story line, it's pure second rate

I did something really insane last night: I took out of the local library The Criterion Collection of "Magnificent Obsession" thinking I was only getting the 1954 remake. However when I got home I discovered I had both versions, Jane Wyman's and Irene Dunne's 1935 original. Now this is where I ought to have my head examined because I decided to watch both movies one right after the other! I am still reeling. Here's the plot: Helen is married to a doctor who dies because medical equipment that could have saved him was unavailable because it was being used to resuscitate selfish playboy Bob Merrick. When Bob tries to make it up to Helen he inadvertently causes her to have an accident which blinds her! Hopelessly in love with our sightless heroine Bob decides to go to medical school to become a surgeon so he can perform the operation that will restore her sight! I am not making any of this nonsense up. Though I love Irene Dunne the Jane Wyman remake is the better of the two films not so much for Jane (Hollywood's dullest leading lady) but for Douglas Sirk's lush direction and an over the top musical score. Plus you get to see a gorgeous Rock Hudson naked from the waist up! This is sheer movie lunacy but if you must watch do yourself a favor and only view one of them at a time! Otherwise you risk losing your mind. I almost lost mine!