Ah, Stumpy... how great is it that you know about the release of The 3 Ms on DVD (finally)? It's certainly a fun movie, and one of GK's few non-musical films that's a joy to watch and allows him to use his charm. He modeled himself after Douglas Fairbanks in his role as d'Artagnan. It reminds me somewhat of Scaramouche, another fun MGM film from the same time with swashbuckling in it. Stewart Granger is so good in that kind of role.
I'm glad that you don't see dancing as sissified. A lot of girls would give anything to be able to dance with the two golden era greats.
Yes, Gene was a lefty, but as you point out, he didn't make a huge deal out of it, along with the other great actors you bring up. He was too smart, and knew better than to alienate at least half of the movie-going public. He did get involved with the HUAC/Joe McCarthy stuff, but at the time, almost everyone in Hollywood did.
As the famous last line of Some Like It Hot goes, "nobody's perfect."
Posts from A Girl Named Jen in thread „They Were Expendable (1945)“
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HI Chester:
I'm glad you liked the Autry discs and that the money is going to a good cause. I hadn't even noticed that.
I'm sorry to hear about members who aren't around any longer. I agree that itdo was definitely on a different level, which is why I always looked forward to hearing from him. His posts were always very informative and certainly more objective with regard to JW; his thoughts seemed to come from a critical, film-appreciation sort of perspective, and it's always good to have different perspectives. Oh well.
It always makes me kind of sad when people can't see past their religious or political differences. If I disagreed about something someone here said, I would just choose not to react and let it pass. One of my other great cinematic interests is the musical star Gene Kelly. (I know; he couldn't be much more different from John Wayne, but there you have it.) Though it pains me a bit to say it about someone whose work I admire so much, he was known for being very left-wing and even got accidentally entangled in communism through his first wife, who was far more hard-core liberal than even he was. I used to post quite frequently at a GK forum and occasionally the conversation drifted into politics. I am more right-wing and conservative myself, and I tended to just ignore those conversations. It's not worth getting involved in something ugly, and risk alienating yourself from a great discussion about a common interest. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and I'm not about to change anyone's mind over night, so I let stuff go.
Just to relate this all to JW, I don't know about any time Duke met with Gene Kelly, though I do know that GK praised him in writing once for how gracefully he moved in spite of (or perhaps because of) his masculinity. He was always trying to prove that dancing could be masculine, and that men who danced should always maintain their masculinity. He didn't like that people always associate dancing with being a sissy.
Anyway, I digress. Sorry!
Thanks for the update! -
I thought there would be a longer clip of Mr. Autry singing the song, but to no avail. Perhaps elsewhere on the web.
I recognize so many names here, but it appears that Chance and smokey are missing along with Baron von Rassilon. Has anyone seen them about? What about itdo (Roland)?
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Hey again everyone!
I just remembered something else I wanted to tell all y'all. I doubt anyone else still cares or remembers, but my very first post here was to ask what song was playing when Duke dances with Donna Reed in They Were Expendable.
About a year ago, I eventually found out from a woman I know. She has a friend who used to work with the great John Ford. (Neat, huh?)
It's called "Marcheta" and at the following website you can hear some of it sung by a good old-fashioned cowboy in his own right, Mr. Gene Autry. Finding this out was one of those sigh of relief moments for me.
http://www.geneautry.com/music…gas_1950tvrecordings.html
I would have replied to my original thread but it's too durned old. Alas.
