Key Largo (1948).

Key Largo (1948). film noir directed by John Huston. Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trever. Key Largo, was the fourth and final film pairing of married actors Bogart and Bacall. Trevor won the 1948 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance.

Veteran Frank McCloud, travels to Key Largo, Florida to pay his respects to the family of George Temple, who died under his command during World War II. George's wheelchair-bound father James runs the hotel with George's widow, who insists that he stay the night. Sitting at the bar are Nora, Frank, Curly Hoff, Toots, Angel and Gaye Dawn. Nora, explains to him that they offered her father-in-law so much money to open the hotel for them, that he could not say no.

It is not long before, a hurricane warning is issued and Nora, runs around closing all the shutters, when the telephone rings. Curly, answers the phone and tells the caller that the Temples are not there and he also has not seen local police officer named, Sawyer. When Temple speaks up, the men pull their guns. The men's boss comes downstairs and Frank recognizes him as the gangster Johnny Rocco. Johnny Rocco and his men, have already captured and beaten Sawyer, who was looking for the Oceola brothers, who had just escaped from jail.

When Rocco, makes a pass at Nora, she spits in his face and Frank quickly talks him out of killing her. Rocco throws him a gun and tells him that he can rid the world of Rocco if he is also willing to die. Frank, throws the gun and Sawyer grabs it and tries to escape. Rocco kills Sawyer, revealing that the other gun was not loaded. Rocco then demands Gaye, his alcoholic girlfriend, to sing a song before she can have a drink. She does not sing very well, Rocco refuses to give her a drink, Frank feels sorry for her and pours her a drink. Rocco slaps him and once again, Frank does nothing.

After the storm passes, Rocco learns they lost the boat in the storm. He orders Frank to take Temple's boat to take him to Cuba. Just before they leave, a second police officer comes looking for Sawyer and finds his body laying outside the hotel. Rocco, blames the murder on the Oceola brothers and when the the brothers try to escape, the officer shoots them. As Rocco and his men prepare to leave, Gaye begs Rocco to take her with them, she grabs his gun from his pocket without him knowing and slips it to Frank. Will Frank save them and get out of this alive?

Key Largo, is a story about a bad situation in which from the beginning you wonder when Frank (if ever), is going to make his move, but.. as luck would have it the hurricane changes things around .

Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971), began his acting career in theater during the 1920s and was a student of the actor Walter Hampden. He made his first film Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror in 1942 and by the end of his career had appeared in sixty films.

He received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film, Ride the Pink Horse (1947). His other film roles include: Who Done It? (1942), Key Largo (1948), Force of Evil (1948), The Conqueror (1956) and his final film Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970).

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Lauren Bacall

I love this photo of Lauren and her cockatoo friend...

Great On Screen Couples: Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall

From the first time they met, Bogie and Bacall were pure magic. When cast as Marie in her first film, To Have And Have Not (1944), the sparks she and Bogie created was something special. At the time Humphrey was married to his third wife, but once he met Bacall, he had found his true love. The two married a year later and following that, they teamed up for their second film, the noir classic The Big Sleep (one of my personal favorite films). By now Bogie and Bacall knew each other so well, they practically finished each other sentences. They would make two more films together: 1947's Dark Passage and 1948's Key Largo.

And while we no longer see their magic on screen again, Bacall did provide Bogie with something his first three wives never did: a son and a daughter. And they was able to enjoy being a family for a little bit before Bogie's death due to throat cancer. Bacall would later marry again to Jason Robards Jr but would divorce him in 9 years. Bacall herself stated that she never met a man to match her first love. Humphrey Bogart was cremeated and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn in Los Angeles. Lauren Bacall is one Hollywood's last living legends and periodically makes a rare film appearance.

Pawsome Pet Pictures: Lauren Bacall and her little cutie

Dorothy Malone.

Dorothy Malone (born January 30, 1925). Much of Malone's early career was in "B" movies, or in Westerns, although she did she have the opportunity to play small roll in the film, The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart, and the love interest of Dean Martin in the musical-comedy, Artists and Models (1955).

By 1956, Malone had transformed herself into a platinum blonde when she co-starred with Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, and Robert Stack in, Written on the Wind (1956). Directed by Douglas Sirk. Based on Robert Wilder's 1945 novel of the same name,  of the real-life scandal involving singer, Libby Holman and her husband.

The troubles begin after Kyle's impulsive marriage to Lucy Moore. He turns against his childhood friend, Mitch Wayne, a geologist for the oil company. Kyle goes into a deep depression after the death of his father, who thinks highly of Mitch but does not think much of his own children.

Mitch is secretly in love with Lucy. He keeps these feelings private until Kyle, having been diagnosed with a low sperm count, assaults Lucy when she announces her pregnancy, wrongly assuming it to be the result of adultery with Mitch. Mitch plans to leave town with her as soon as she's well enough to travel. A drunken Kyle grabs a gun with plans to shoot Mitch. Marylee, tries to grab the gun from him, but it accidentally fires, killing him. Will Marylee be punished for the crime,or will she be left alone to run the company .

She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. As a result, she was offered more substantial roles in, Too Much, Too Soon, where she portrayed Diana Barrymore, Man of a Thousand Faces (with James Cagney), and Warlock (with Henry Fonda and Richard Widmark). Other films include: The Tarnished Angels, The Last Voyage and The Last Sunset.

In the 1963-1964 season, Malone guest starred on, The Greatest Show on Earth. She performed in the lead role of, Constance MacKenzie on the ABC prime time serial Peyton Place, in which she starred from 1964 to 1968. She had a featured role in the miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In her last screen performance, she played a mother convicted of murdering her family in, Basic Instinct (1992).

Filmography:
Night and Day (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Flaxy Martin (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949)
The Nevadan (1950)
Convicted (1950)
Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)
The Bushwackers (1952)
Scared Stiff (1953)
Young at Heart (1954)
Battle Cry (1955)
The Fast and the Furious (1955)
Sincerely Yours (1955)
Written on the Wind (1956)
The Last Sunset(1961)

Beach Party (1963)
Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979)
Winter Kills (1979)
Basic Instinct (1992)

To Have and Have Not(1944).

To Have and Have Not (1944). Directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, in her first film. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway.

Shortly after the fall of France to the Germans, an American named Johnson hires Harry to take him fishing on his boat. The fishing trip does not go very well and Harry decides it best to cancel the rest of the trip. Johnson promises to pay his bill after the banks open the next morning.

Back in Fort de France, Frenchy the bartender, asks Harry to rent him his boat for one night to transport some members of the resistance, but Harry refuses to become involved. Later, in the hotel bar, Harry sees Marie pick Johnson's pocket, and when she leaves the bar, he follows her back up to her room. After which they begin stormy relationship.



Later they are forced to take a job for the resistance transporting a fugitive on the run from the Nazis to Martinique.

The chemistry between Bogart and Bacall is some of the most natural acting I have ever seen on film.

Dolores Moran's brief career as a film actress began in 1942 with a uncredited role in, Yankee Doodle Dandy. By 1943 she had become a popular pin-up girl and appeared on the cover of such magazines as Yank. She was given supporting roles in film, Old Acquaintance (1943).She was promoted along with Lauren Bacall as a new screen personality when they co-starred with Humphrey Bogart in, To Have and Have Not (1944). The film made a star of Bacall, but not for Moran. Probably because Howard Hawk's decision to marginalise Moran in order to boost the screen presence of Bacall.

The Horn Blows at Midnight, gave her a leading role with Jack Benny and Alexis Smith. Unfortunately, She suffered ill health which reduced her ability to work. Her film career ended in 1954 with a featured role in the John Payne and Lizabeth Scott western film, Silver Lode.

A Star Is Born!

Happy birthday Lauren Bacall!!! Her birthday was yesterday and she is 86. That is pretty awsomesauce and snazzy. To be 86 i mean. She must be so wise...

I have to admit that I have only seen one of her movies (The Man With A Horn) but she was married to Bogie, and that puts her way up in my books ;D.  But this post is really about A Star Is Born so I better get back to that.

I watched this film quite a while ago. Maybe about 2 months ago, but I can still remember it very strongly. Its not the kind of film you can forget very easily. The film starts with some sort of Hollywood gala, and the main appearance is supposed to be that of Norman Maine (James Mason), a famous film-star who's carreer is in decline. He apppears on stage while Esther Blodget (Judy Garland) is singing, and he is obviously intoxicated. She turns the awkward situation into a comical but sophisticated entrance for Norman. He thanks her and draws a heart on the backstage wall with her lipstick. He then goes to see her sing The Man That Got Away after hours at a club in Hollywood. He recognises her talent and makes her quit her band and make a carreer in movies. He mentions her name to the studios but on the day she arrives he has been taken to a location for fiming a new "comeback film" and she assumes he was just flirting with her. After a series of unpredictable events, he hears her singing on a TV commercial and the proccess starts all over agian, except this time she gets a job with his studio. The studio changes her name to Vicki Lester, and she makes a big success in a musical where she performs songs such as I Was Born In A Trunk. Norman and Esther marry and live very happily together for a while. But as her carreer soars, his declines even more. Can their mariage survive?

*Weep weep* Even as I *blow nose* watch I Was Born In A Trunk, I remember everything *sob* that happens and I just can't bear it!!!!! I dont want to spoil the story for you all, but after half-way through the film, every time James Mason walks into view I sob. Judy's performance is just beyond words. She is so sensitive, and in some scenes it is like it's her story that she is acting, not Esther Blodgett's. The direction is that of George Cukor of Gaslight, Gone With The Wind, and The Philidelphia Story, and it is pretty fantabiedoobie directing. Just to let you know, that I will know if someone is worthy of being my friend, if they draw a heart on a wall with MY lipsick! That is a pretty cool thing to do. Almost as cool as Paul Henried lighting 2 cigarettes in Now Voyager.

Judy in Meet Me In St. Louis

I wanted to tell you that there will be no more posts until Tuesday/Wednesday (this is supposed to be the bit where you are all sobbing at your computers) because I am staying at a friend's house because my parents are going away for a few days on Sunday.

~Bette

Happy Birthday: Lauren Bacall!

Lauren Bacall (born September 16, 1924), first began her acting career as leading lady in film noirs, The Big Sleep (1946), directed by Howard Hawks, the first film version of Raymond Chandler's 1939 novel of the same name. A film about the process of a criminal investigation instead of its results. Dark Passage (1947), the film is based on the novel of the same name by David Goodis. It was the third of four films real-life couple Bacall and Bogart made together. Bacall also performed as a comedian in, How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)along with Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe as fortune hunters with William Powell, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Cameron Mitchell, Alexander D'Arcy, and Fred Clark. Designing Woman (1957). A film about fashion, with Gregory Peck. George Wells won an Academy Award for the screenplay. Bacall has also worked in the Broadway musical, gaining Tony Awards for Applause in 1970 and Woman of the Year in 1981. Her performance in the movie The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination.

Video: From the film: To Have and Have Not. Song: How little we know. A romance-war-adventure film. Directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, in her first film. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. Please click on Lauren Bacall's name, in the tag line, located at the bottom of the post, to learn more about Lauren Bacall.

Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall, worked as theatre usher and a fashion model. As Betty Bacall (age17), she made her first acting performance on Broadway in 1942, as a walk-on in Johnny 2 X 4. According to her autobiography, Davis visited Bacall backstage to congratulate her on her performance in Applause, a musical based on Davis's performance in All About Eve.

Howard Hawks's wife Nancy spotted her on the March 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar and urged Hawks to have her take a screen test for the film, To Have and Have Not.

He signed her up to a seven-year contract, brought her to Hollywood and began to manage her career. Hawks changed her name to Lauren Bacall. Nancy Hawks dressed Lauren in, stylish clothes, and guided her in the art of elegance, manners and taste. Bacall's voice was trained to be lower and sexier, which resulted in one of the most distinctive voices in Hollywood.

After To Have and Have Not, Bacall was seen opposite Charles Boyer in Confidential Agent (1945). Bacall would state in her autobiography that her career never fully recovered from this film, and that studio boss Jack Warner did not care about quality. She then performed with Bogart in the film noir The Big Sleep (1946), the thriller Dark Passage (1947), Key Largo (1948). She was cast with Gary Cooper in the film, Bright Leaf (1950).

Young Man with a Horn (1950),one of my favorite movies is often considered to be one of the first big-budget jazz films.

Based on a biographical novel of the same name about the life of Bix Beiderbecke. Cast: Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, and Lauren Bacall.

Musician Smoke Willoughby thinks back to when he first meet his friend legendary trumpet player Rick Martin. After his mother dies , Rick moves in with his sister in California. Rick sees a trumpet in a pawn shop window and gets a job in a bowling alley to pay for it. Next to the bowling alley is a Jazz club, where Rick hears jazz for the first time. He quickly makes friends with the trumpet player Art Hazzard, who teaches his young friend how to play the trumpet. As Rick gets older, he finds odd jobs playing for carnivals and dance marathons. Rick decides to follow Art to New York and gets a job playing trumpet for big band leader Jack Chandler where he meets Smoke and singer Jo. Chandler insists that Rick play the music exactly as written. Chandler fires Rick after he plays a jazzy number. Despite Jo's efforts, Rick refuses to go back when Chandler offers to rehire him. Rick learns that his friend Art has been sick and he returns to New York. Jo gets him a job with another orchestra. Some evenings Rick goes over to help out Art at Louis Galba's nightclub. Jo brings her friend Amy to hear Rick play. Amy, who is studying to be a psychiatrist, blames her father for her mother's death and believes that she is not capable of love. They fall in love and are married, soon after Rick and Amy start to have problems because of his dedication to music. Will Rick be torn away from playing the trumpet to save his marriage?

For anyone who loves jazz, this is a wonderful movie. The soundtrack to this movie is awesome.(trumpet played by Harry James). Kirk Douglas is perfect for Rick's character. Lauren Bacall performance as a manipulative heiress was perfect.

Bacall starred in another one of my favorite films, How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), teaming up with Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable.

Written on the Wind (1956). Bacall says in her autobiography that she did not think much of the role. While struggling at home with Bogart's severe illness, Bacall starred with Gregory Peck in another wonderful film, Designing Woman. It was released in New York City on May 16, 1957, four months after Bogart died of cancer on January 14.

Bacall's movie career began to fade in the 1960s. The few movies Bacall performed in were, Sex and the Single Girl (1964) with Henry Fonda, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, Harper (1966) with Paul Newman, Shelley Winters, Julie Harris, Robert Wagner and Janet Leigh, and Murder on the Orient Express (1974), with Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney and Sean Connery.

In 1976, she co-starred with John Wayne in his last picture, The Shootist. The two became friends, even with the political differences between them. They had previously been cast together in 1955's Blood Alley.

Designing Women (1957).

Designing Woman (1957). Romantic/comedy. Director: Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck.

After a night of drinking, sports writer Mike Hagen, cannot remember writing his assignment until fashion designer Marilla comes over to his apartment to inform him that they wrote the story together. He suggests that they take a trip to California. While there, they decide to marry and when they return to New York, they move into Marilla's beautiful East Side apartment. Back at the newspaper office, editor Hammerstein warns Mike that crooked boxing promoter Martin J. Daylor is threatening Mike's life because of the articles he has written about Daylor. In one of the funnest scenes in the movie, Mike is having dinner with his ex-girlfriend to break off their relationship. She dumps a plate of pasta in his lap, after which Marilla walks in as she is running out. After dinner, Mike and Marilla return to their apartment, where they walk into a surprise wedding shower.

After a couple of weeks, they fall into a comfortable routine, keeping their professional worlds apart. Then one night, Marilla, wanting to spend more time with her husband, attends a boxing match with Mike, where she finds herself overwhelmed by it all. The following week, Mike and his friends meet at their apartment for the guys' weekly poker game. In another room, Marilla holds a rehearsal for Zachary's musical, for which she has been chosen to design the costumes. The evening turns into a disaster.

Marilla becomes suspicious of Mike's ex-girlfriend when he tries to hide from her their former relationship. Complicating their relationship even further is Mike's relationship with the crooked boxing promoter Martin Daylor. Mike's life is in real danger, but he hides that from her too. What happens next is a series of misadventures.

I have a huge soft spot for fluffy romance films. Bacall and Peck have great chemistry as newlyweds who have several differences to work out. Bacall is funny and stylish in her beautiful gowns and Peck is funny as a rough around the edges sports writer.

Dolores Gray (June 7, 1924 – June 26, 2002) was an American stage and film actress. During her successful music career, she sang Marilyn Monroe's part on the Decca records soundtrack album of There's No Business Like Show Business (1954).


Dolores Gray was briefly signed with MGM, performing in the film, Kismet (1955) and It's Always Fair Weather(1955).

WINNERS OF THE 82nd ACADEMY AWARDS

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds

BEST ACTRESS
Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mo'Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Up, Pete Docter

ART DIRECTION
Avatar, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg
Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Avatar

COSTUME DESIGN
The Young Victoria Powell

BEST DIRECTOR
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Cove, Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens

SHORT SUBJECT DOCUMENTARY
Music by Prudence Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

FILM EDITING
The Hurt Locker, Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

BEST MAKEUP
Star Trek, Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

ORIGINAL SCORE
Up, Michael Giacchino

ORIGINAL SONG
The Wear Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)
from Crazy Heart Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

BEST PICTURE
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal,
Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro, Producers

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Logorama Nicolas Schmerkin

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
The New Tenants, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

SOUND EDITING
The Hurt Locker, Paul N.J. Ottosson

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos), Argentina

VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar, Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Hurt Locker
written by Mark Boal

HONORARY LIFETIME AWARD
Roger Coleman and Lauren Bacall

POLL: Favorite Humphrey Bogart leading lady.

Humphrey Bogart had some wonderful leading ladies.

Here are the results of : Which is your favorite Humphrey Bogart leading lady poll?

Lauren Bacall came in with 44% of the votes.

Ingrid Bergman came in with 33% of the votes.

Mary Astor, Katharine Hepburn and Lisabeth Scott, each received 1% of the votes.

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall met when she was 19 and he was 45. They met on the set of the film To Have and Have Not in (1944). Bogart and Bacall were married on a farm in Lucas, Ohio on May 21, 1945.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made four films together. To Have and Have Not (1944), based on the Hemingway novel. (1946)The Big Sleep. Bogart played private detective Philip Marlow in the film. (1947), Dark Passage. Their last film together was (1948) Key Largo.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall had two children together, Steven Humphrey Bogart was born in 1949, Steven was named after Bogart's character in To Have and Have Not. Daughter Leslie Howard Bogart was born in 1952, named after British actor Leslie Howard. Who discovered Humphrey Bogart.
In early 1956, Humphrey Bogart, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Humphrey Bogart died on January 14, 1957 at 57.