5 Times When Henry Daniell Owned the Screen

starting at 2:45

The whole ending to 

"The Body Snatcher" (1945)

Every Scene He's in in

"Jane Eyre" (1944)

Dealing with Charlie Chaplin

in "The Great Dictator" (1940)

with Charlie Chaplin and Jack Oakie

As Professor Moriarty in 

"The Woman in Green" (1945)

Cartoon Friday: Making 'Em Move (In a Cartoon Studio) [Aesop's Fables, Van Beuren Studios, 1931]

#WomanEmpowermentWednesday Dorothy Arzner

• The first female member of the Directors Guild of America
• Made training films for the US Army's Women's Army Corps during WW2
• The only female director to have made the transition from silent films to talkies
• Directed Clara Bow's first film "The Wild Party"
• Impressed Paramount director James Cruze by intercutting the bullfighting scene in "Blood and Sand" with stock footage to save money
• Directed technicians to create an early prototype of a boom mike (a microphone on a fishing rod)
• Taught and influenced Francis Ford Coppola
• Became an independent director in 1932
• Assisted in launching the careers of many actresses, including Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Lucille Ball and many others
• Worked as an ambulance driver during WW1
• Started at Paramount Pictures as a typist and moved up to screenwriter and editor
• Taught some of the first film classes at the Pasadena Playhouse 

#ManCrushMonday Leslie Howard

There is nothing sexier than an actor that has a presence that simply breathes intelligence. Leslie Howard is one of these men, whether a cultured spoof on an author living in the Canadian mountains ("49th Parallel," 1941) or the great Henry Higgins we all know and slightly detest ("Pygmalion," 1938). This man could do a great many things, even behind the camera as well as endearing comedic roles ("Stand-In," 1937) and even some not-so-great films ("Gone With the Wind," 1939).

"49th Parallel," 1941

"Stand-In," 1937

"Gone With the Wind," 1939

"Pygmalion," 1938

A Love Letter to... Julie Andrews

I wish you were my first Cinderella

But you introduced singing to me

(Thank my Great-Aunt for that, 

singing Do-Re-Mi to me 

At a very young age)

You spoke to dogs and umbrellas

Just as beautifully as you sang

To all those children...

And the children in front of the screen

5 Actors Whose Singing Voices Will Surprise You

Clint Eastwood 

in "Paint Your Wagon" (1969)

Peter Lawford 

in "Good News" (1947)

Dana Andrews
in "The North Star" (1943)

[solo starts at 1:27]

Sean Connery 
in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)

Christopher Lee

#WomanEmpowermentWednesday Marilyn Monroe

• Headed the Committee For a Sane Nuclear Policy
• Walked out on her "dumb blonde" contract with 20th Century Fox
• Had a hand in helping Ella Fitzgerald's career promising a whites-only club she would sit in the front row every night if they booked Fitzgerald
• The first actress to receive script and director approval
• The first person to start an independent film production company (Marilyn Monroe Productions, 1956)
• Gave time and money to many charities (the USO, Orphanages, The March of Dimes among many others)
• The third woman in history to start her own production company

#ManCrushMonday #BritishEdition Eric Portman

There is something soulful about Eric Portman in the two movies I have seen of his. Soulful in "A Canterbury Tale" and stone cold ruthless as a Nazi in "49th Parallel," his range is absolutely unparalleled. But there is something greater in his presence, and especially in the prior film. Those eyes, soulful in a character who struggles to separate the burgeoning relationships between the soldiers and the women of his town, do something almost spiritual in an already very moving film.

with Sheila Sim in "A Canterbury Tale" (1944)

"A Canterbury Tale" (1944)

with Margaret Scudamore in "A Canuterbury Tale" (1944)

in "49th Parallel" (1941)

5 of the Best Songs in Musicals

Brush Up Your Shakespeare 

from "Kiss Me Kate" (1953)

That's Entertainment 

from "The Band Wagon" (1953)

Choreography 

from "White Christmas" (1954)

Life Could Not Better Be 

from "The Court Jester" (1955)

Triplets

 from "The Band Wagon" (1953)