Canadian Ken's 500 Films

Quick post from the balmy Chicago airport:

Canadian Ken's got a new series up:
His 500 Favorite Films.
It's worth noting that the first 400 are from before 1964.
I'm still reeling from the very idea.

But it's truly an amazing list.
Ken frames it as an autobiography ala ciné and it provides a magical portrait of Lulu's favorite northern filmfreak. It also provides yet another reminder of how idiosyncratically incomplete Lulu's own film history is...

So, lovely reader, here's the plan:
Go over to Canadian Ken's & do your personal tally for each of the posts. For example - first, I'm agonna count how many movies I've seen from each list. Then, I might make a wish list of the movies I wanna see. Do what you will, lovely reader, but do it in comments over at Ken's.

Consider yourself officially tagged.

More Canadian Ken...

One of the real treats of making Canadian Ken's acquaintance is discovering just how much he loves movies and how much he knows about them. Not only does it seem Ken's already seen everything but -- even better -- he's game for seeing it all again. (That's a man after StinkyLulu's movie-loving soul, to be sure. ) See for yourself, lovely reader, in Ken's post on
the overlooked Supporting Actresses of 1962.

Canadian Ken enters the blogosphere...

A quick tease for Sunday's Smackdown...


StinkyLulu just drafted Canadian Ken -- Lu's favorite movie buff from the northland -- into the blogosphere. (It's a collaborative venture & Ken's a little leery of the whole fandango & this'll just be a trial run...) So, help kick things off by checking out Ken's thoughts on each of 1962's Supporting Actress nominees...

More Supporting Actress Smackdown - 1961: Canadian Ken Weighs in...

Before the month of August -- and a whole 'nother roster of Supporting Actress fills the queue -- it's imperative that StinkyLulu share with you, lovely reader, the excellent independent Smackdowning from up north. That ever-amazing font of film-obsessive wisdom, "Canadian Ken" worked up a his own smackdown contribution, and -- because he doesn't have his own blog (YET... hint! hint!) -- StinkyLulu's happy to share it here.

About 1961, Canadian Ken Sez...

FAY BAINTER, The Children's Hour
Bainter fully rated her nomination. Alma Kruger had done a bang-up job with the same role in the 30's version ("These Three"). And Bainter maintains the standard. Beautiful work - and an impressive capper to a long and splendid career.

JUDY GARLAND, Judgement at Nuremberg
Well, Judy Garland was riding the wave of the biggest, most emotional comeback in show-biz history. The rafters at Carnegie Hall were still ringing. And at this point the Academy would have probably nominated her for anything. To be fair,though, she's pretty good.

LOTTE LENYA, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
The picture's pretty much a mess. But there's no faulting Lotte Lenya. As jovial death camp matrons go, she's as upmarket as it gets. And with that scary German work ethic on full display ,she earns every pfennig they paid her.

UNA MERKEL, Summer and Smoke
Treasured veteran Una Merkel plays against (her ususal comic) type in "Summer and Smoke". The nomination is like Shirley Jones' in "Elmer Grantry". Given not because she did it particularly well, but just because she did it.

RITA MORENO, West Side Story
Maybe she couldn't execute every last complicated Chita Rivera dance move - but she came damn close. Anyway, where nominations are concerned, acting trumps dancing and Moreno delivers big-time. I'll always have reservations about this (to me over-rated) picture. But never about Rita Moreno's Anita. The fire in her belly is there for all to see. And the way she regulates it is a marvel - moving from warm glow to blast furnace and back again. But always 100% real - in a movie that could use a lot more of that quality.

Thanks, Ken!
And, remember, lovely reader, you too can work up your own contribution to the Smackdown. Just commit to re/screen the five nominated pictures (1962's an ideal year as all of the nominated titles are easily accessible). Then, prepare your comments to coincide with the Smackdown here. Size limitations prohibit the full incorporation of everyone's contributions, but StinkyLulu'd be proud to link to your post on the Supporting Actresses of the Smackdown year. And, in the not unlikely event that one of our regular Smackdowners can't contribute, if Lulu knows that you're preparing a post, you may be drafted to fill out the virtual roundtable... Justa thought...

Canadian Ken on Thelma Ritter in THE MISFITS (1961) - CouldaShouldaWoulda Wednesdays

Yes. It's Tuesday but...

Just got a rich message from Canadian Ken with some excellent observations about the Supporting Actress Class of 1961. So, over this week and next, Lulu'll be sharing some of Ken's excellent observations with y'all, lovely reader. Kicking things off, Ken offers his thoughts on one of the more startling oversights of 1961's Supporting Actress nominations...

...Thelma Ritter in The Misfits.

Canadian Ken sez...

Thelma Ritter's presence is always welcome - and Oscar voters recognized her regularly. But, to my mind, they often nominated the wrong performances. Ritter-wise, The Misfits represented the Academy's most egregious failure to nominate. Onscreen, she redefined the term "down to earth" combining a number of seemingly opposing characteristics - she was simultaneously wary and distracted, shrewd and soft-hearted . And nobody did it quite like her. Or even came close.

In The Misfits, she ratcheted it all up to full, finely tuned glory. Ditzy but pragmatic, shambling around, sometimes carryring her arm in an eloquent sling, Ritter was poignant, pithy and certainly never better. She drifts out of the picture part way through and she's genuinely missed for the rest of the proceedings. (What the heck! I still miss her.) With The Misfits, Ritter was part of a solid gold project, working with a great director and inspired co-stars..

Thanks, Ken!
And stay tuned, lovely reader, for more from Canadian Ken. Ken's thoughts on Mary Astor in Return to Peyton Place are not to be missed!
(Check back next week, same stinky time, same stinky station...)

"Canadian Ken" Reflects on 1942... (CouldaShouldaWoulda Wednesday)

Yeah yeah -- 1942 was MAY's Month of Supporting Actress Sunday...

Mere days ago, a fascinating email arrived to StinkyLulu's inbox -- a message that the Pan-American email gremlins had kept to themselves for weeks. (Most likely so they could snag the netflix copies for their greedy gremlin selves.) The email came from Ken, an old-school (ie. blogless) film aficionado in Toronto. A font of film wisdom, Ken's email schooled Lulu with all kinds of thoughts about variously overlooked performances from both
1942 and 1958. (O'course, Ken endeared himself immediately to Lulu when he revealed that he shared many of StinkyLu's less-than-popular feelings about (a) Moorehead's Ambersons performance and (b) the delights of Dame May.)

But, really, Ken's perspective on the Snubbees from the Class of 1942 is worth sharing all on its own. So -- with permission from Ken & some minor html/edits/links -- StinkyLulu offers you, lovely reader...

Canadian Ken's Snubbed Supporting Actresses of 1942:

Who should have been nominated?

•#1- Dame May Whitty in Mrs. Miniver (see also).

It's fine fine work from a dependable and charismatic pro.
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#2- Nancy Coleman in Warner Brothers' King's Row.

King's Row was perhaps the year's most uneven epic, boasting some of 1942's best and worst performances...but, best of all, Nancy Coleman - a beautiful Warner starlet who also happened to be one heck of an actress. She brings dimension and complexity to a role that would have been zip in the hands of, say, Susan Peters. Coleman drifted out of films far too soon, but she left behind a couple of memorable '40s performances - and King's Row certainly contains one of them.
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#3 - Susan Hayward in I Married a Witch.

I've always thought the early '40s were Hayward's best period. She looked amazing, often superbly cast as jealous co-eds and scheming vixens. She was gormless Judy Canova's country club nemesis in Sis Hopkins and a society bitch supreme in The Hairy Ape. And I Married a Witch is certainly one of her finest '40s hours. Veronica Lake has to summon up a supernatural storm to wreck Hayward's society wedding. And Hayward meets it head-on with hilarious and scary fireworks of her own. She achieved leading lady stardom in the '50s. But I think the '40s gave us Hayward's most enjoyable combinations of artistry and oomph.
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#4- Elizabeth Patterson - also in I Married a Witch.

Patterson later gained TV immortality as The Ricardos' neighbour Mrs. Trumble - ever-willing to babysit Little Ricky. But in the '30s and '40s she easily outacted more famous biddies like Beulah Bondi in picture after picture. I Married a Witch contains one of her polished gems of razor-sharp dithering.
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#5 - and the winner-
Anne Baxter as Lucy in The Magnificent Ambersons.

The performance that should be revered. An utterly fresh and original spin on the ingenue - smart, skeptical and supportive at the same time - and all in a way that actually seems real. Yes, the writing's excellent - but Baxter's delivery constantly makes good lines better. And as a rich, warm, playful inventive and fully realized performance it's seldom been bettered.

Wow, huh. That Ken sure knows his Class of '42. (And to top it all off, Ken even offers a special honorable mention to the "droll, vivacious" Diana Lynn in The Major and the Minor. "Has precociousness ever seemed quite so palatable?" he asks.) StinkyLulu's just peeved as all getout to have resisted an early impulse to check out I Married A Witch for 1942's CouldaShouldaWouldas... Live & learn. (And put more must-see movies on the list...)

Thanks, Ken, for adding so much to the ongoing, obsessive fun of Supporting Actress Sunday. Here's hoping that your excellent suggestions regarding the overlooked ladies of each year keep on coming... (And that goes for you too, lovely reader. If you have suggestions/reminders for StinkyLulu, regarding Supporting Actress Sundays -- or whutevah -- drop Lulu a line...)