Yesterday, all day, Turner Classic Movies showed 24 hours of Roy Rogers movies. Roy Rogers as Bill Hickok. Roy Rogers as William F. Cody. Roy Rogers as a rancher. A border agent. A Pony Express Rider. Oh, the humanity. Have they no mercy?
Today, all day, they’re showing 24 hours of movies featuring the marvelous Mary Astor, who’s remembered by most as Brigid O’Shaughnessy in John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon. Starting at 2:00pm EDT she portrays the governor’s wife in The Hurricane, a movie in which the real star is the special effects but also featured two natural wonders—the young Swiss-Polynesian Jon Hall and New Orleanian Dorothy Lamour, two of the most beautiful physical specimens ever to appear in the movies. Then she portrays the mother in Meet Me in St. Louis, Black Michael’s faithful mistress in The Prisoner of Zenda, catches Walter Huston on the rebound in Dodsworth, the femme fatale in The Maltese Falcon, and an imperious concert pianist in The Great Lie also starring Bette Davis. If you’re not familiar with it, this last picture is a fabulous example of how two skilled actresses elevate what could have been a run-of-the-mill soap opera into considerably more on the basis of sheer acting talent (and liberal re-writing of the script).
What a range! A real treat for film buffs. Set your Tivos!
