Venetia
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Blanche’s Feminist Speech
I have no intention…
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♣Venetia is our Feminism correspondent. She loves equality, swearing, and huge cups of coffee.
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[The Great Villain Blogathon] Blanche Fury: Blanche Gets the Last Word
[The Great Villain Blogathon] Blanche Fury: How the Beautiful People Dress
Blanche Fury certainly knew how to dress. She was always on point, whatever the circumstance: from poor relation to lady of the manor, sexy adulteress to “grieving” widow, she had it going on. Her lover, Philip Thorn, was right there with her, looking fine. Fine. Here are some of the occasions when Blanche and/or Philip looked better than we ever could:
♦Charlotte is our Fashion correspondent. Her dream closet consists of the collective wardrobes of 796 films.
[The Great Villain Blogathon] Blanche Fury: Illicit Love is a Killing Thing
Effie
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Where Everything is Beautiful and Everyone Dies:
Granger and Hobson
The titular Blanche Fury and her lover Philip Thorn are outstandingly beautiful people. Their clothes are elegant and perfectly cut. The vast estate on which they live is richly appointed. It is full of expensive furniture and many servants. They are passionate, and very much in love with each other.
Unfortunately for them…
their lives are playing out in a Gothic genre film set in the Victorian era.
Too bad, beautiful people.
It was nice knowing you.
Continue reading
Glorious, Glorious Gloria the Birthday Girl!
On 27th March, 1899, a baby girl was born in the great Midwestern metropolis of Chicago. She grew up to conquer the world, armed with an arsenal of talent, wit, style, unusual beauty, and a staggering amount of well-justified ambition and self-confidence.
The camera loved her. Clothes loved her.
Fans loved her.
We still do.
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Five (of the Many) Faces of Gloria
Magnificent:
Gloria Swanson in Male and Female, 1919.
Demure:
Gloria Swanson, Motion Picture Classic (1920).
Determined:
Gloria Swanson by Nickolas Muray, 1922.
Edgy:
Gloria Swanson in The Impossible Mrs. Bellew, 1922.
Timeless:
Gloria Swanson, Stars of the Photoplay (1924).
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Happy birthday to the one, the only, the superb Gloria Swanson!
Until next time…
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◊Effie is our Film correspondent. She (shockingly!) prefers House Peters’ profile to John Barrymore’s!
Announcing the Beach Party Blogathon!
Another lovely upcoming blogathon in which we are participating!
We’re Off to See “The Seven Year Itch”…On the Big Screen
Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Announcing the Great Villain Blogathon 2015!
We’ll be covering the murderous duo of Valerie Hobson and Stewart Granger in ‘Blanche Fury.’
We’re Busy Working on Some New Reviews
We’re busy working on some new reviews…
Film #1
Film #2
The Sun Sets on Lizabeth Scott
Lizabeth Scott, Famed Film Noir Actress of the ’40s and ’50s, Dies at 92 [The Hollywood Reporter]
Lizabeth Scott in Yank Magazine, 1945
[The Miriam Hopkins Blogathon] Design for Living: Part Four-Not Your Average Rom Com Heroine
Not Your Average Rom Com Heroine
Venetia
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Gilda Farrell is the unicorn of women movie characters: she’s unconventional without being (the cliched Hollywood-version of) a free spirit. Sure, most of us have heard that such a thing exists, without ever believing it could be true.
Trust me, dears. Gilda is the real deal.
She’s whip-smart, witty, straightforward, and determined to make the choices that are best for her. Even, as it turns out, when they are considered brazen or unbecoming of a “nice” woman. She starts with the awareness that women suffer from an almost unrelenting series of double standards:
Gilda’s Speech in Design for Living (1933)
From there, she decides to take action. This is why Gilda is so exceptional, why her decision to live romantically with two men is so fucking revolutionary. It is, also, why she is not a free-spirit:
To label her as such denies Gilda her self-governance, her experience, her bravery, and her brains.
Without them, she’d be just another silver screen beauty feigning eccentricity before accepting her fate as the good wife of an exceptionally handsome man.
Thank God for Gilda.
Her supposed immorality not only goes unpunished, but she gets to keep her self-respect, Gary Cooper, and Fredric March.
That’s pretty damn nifty.
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♣Venetia is our Feminism correspondent. She loves equality, swearing, and huge cups of coffee.
The Miriam Hopkins Blogathon
Font and Frock 