waterloo bridge

Another film recommendation for you!

I'm a huge fan of the TCM Forbidden Hollywood Collections. I only own one (for now... :) but I've seen some of the films from the other two and I find them just thrilling and can't wait to see them all. In case you don't know--these are the films made pre-Hays Code and for the most part they have a raciness (read: honesty) about them that later movies of the 40s and 50s couldn't get away with. 

I finally saw Waterloo Bridge and it's now one of my new favorites. (There was a cleaned-up remake in 1940 with Vivien Leigh.) Not only do you get scenes with scantily-clad chorus girls (they had the best underwear back then!) and lots of great outfits, but oh my goodness the two leads: Mae Clarke and Kent Douglass are so wonderful, I hardly have the words. I want to see all of her movies now (like this one). She has such charisma! She's adorable and sassy, and so comfortable in her skin--you never feel like she's 'Capital-A-Acting'. Sexy and vulnerable at the same time with a deep belly laugh--I want to be best girlfriends with her! Oddly enough, Bette Davis has a small supporting role and seems so much stiffer and uncomfortable by comparison. Sadly, it seems Mae's career sort of dwindled away in the 40s but I have more research to do on her yet.

And he--(who mysteriously went by the name Douglass Montgomery later in his career) is this big, beautiful sweetheart of a man who actually cries a few times in this movie. There's one moment when he's exiting a shot and he's literally wiping away his little tears--I can't tell you how moving it was. And look for the scene when they're holding hands in the back of a car--he's precious. As much as I love old movies I never get terribly emotional watching them, but I teared up more than once in Waterloo Bridge. Especially because it got me thinking a lot about what it meant to be female at that time and not be born into wealth and priveledge. It's really quite moving.

Comments

[Rachel]

If you haven't already, you need to see Baby Face. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023775/
It's on DVD, but I first saw it at a pre-code film festival where they showed the original ending, and then the censored ending, and the original movie is way better. Having mostly been exposed to the sanitized version of life pictured in movies that came out after the code, I was surprised to see life portrayed in a more modern way in a movie made in 1933. It's really darkly funny, and of course Barbara Stanwyck is great.

Oh, it's in one of the TCM collections that you linked to, so I guess if you have volume 1 (I have that one), you've probably already seen Baby Face. My recommendation stands, though :-)

[mary catherine garrison]

yes!!! i absolutely ADORE that movie!!! i love everything barbara stanwyck did (except maybe not the thorn birds :) but that is a GREAT suggestion. i should maybe try to do more posts on the pre-code movies so they get more play and get released on dvd. they're too exciting to be ignored. by the way--just re-watched the cheat with tallulah bankhead. good stuff :)