Thursday, June 3, 2010

There's Always Tomorrow (1956).


There's Always Tomorrow (1956). Drama. Director: Douglas Sirk. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Joan Bennett. The screenplay was written by Bernard C. Schoenfeld, based on novel by Ursula Parrott.

Clifford Groves, works hard running a toy manufacturing business and afterwards goes home to his wife Marion and his children, Vinnie, Ellen and Frankie. On Marion's birthday, Cliff wants to take her on a night on the town, only to find that she has made other plans with the children.

Later that evening, Norma Miller Vale, a ex-co-worker who Cliff has not seen in twenty years, drops by. Although, Cliff does not recognize her at first.



They decide to go to the theater, afterwards Norma, asks to visit his office and they reminisces about the past. When Norma asks if he is happy now, Cliff hesitates before saying yes. When he returns home, Cliff tries to tell Marion about his night, but she is too tired to listen.

The next weekend, Cliff plans a weekend get-away with Marion. Just before they are to leave for a resort, their daughter twists her ankle and Marion thinks it is best to stay home with her. Cliff schedules a business meeting in Palm Valley and drives to the inn by himself.

There, just as he finds out that his meeting has been cancelled and he runs into Norma, who is also there for the weekend. What will happen between these two lonely people?

What I loved about this film was Fred and Barbara on screen chemistry. A couple of my favorite scenes are when: she chews the children out and the scene where she tells Fred that they could never be...


Patricia "Pat" Crowley (born September 17, 1933),was featured in the film Forever Female (1953), starring Ginger Rogers and William Holden.

She starred alongside the comedy team of Martin and Lewis in the 3-D film Money from Home (1953), as well as in their final film together Hollywood or Bust (1956).

Crowley made guest appearances in several television series in the 1950's and 1960's: The Untouchables, Crossroads, Riverboat, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, The Eleventh Hour, The Roaring 20's, Mr. Novak, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., 87th Precinct and Wanted: Dead or Alive (episode "Competition"). She starred from 1965 to 1967 as Joan Nash in the NBC sitcom Please Don't Eat the Daisies, based on the 1957 book by Jean Kerr and the 1960 Doris Day film of the same name.

She also perfomed in dramatic roles on the crime shows: Charlie's Angels, Columbo, Police Woman, The Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii 5-0, and The Rockford Files, as well as sit-coms like Happy Days, The Love Boat, Empty Nest and, more recently, Frasier and Friends. Crowley is known to a later era of television viewers for her roles on the serials Generations from 1989 to 1990, Port Charles from 1997 to 2003, and The Bold and the Beautiful in 2005. She also appeared in ten episodes of the nighttime soap opera Dynasty. More recently, Crowley portrayed the widow of baseball's Roger Maris in the biopic 61*, directed by Billy Crystal. She appeared in a 2006 episode of The Closer and a 2009 episode of Cold Cas Crowley is the daughter of Helen and Vincent Crowley, a mine foreman.

In 1958, she married Edward Gregory Hookstratten, who became an entertainment and sports lawyer. They had two children, Jon (born 1958) and Ann (born 1960). After their two-decade marriage ended, she wed producer Andy Friendly in 1986. Crowley was often confused with her acting contemporary Kathleen Crowley, who appeared as guest leading lady in different episodes of most of the same television series. The two Crowleys never appeared together, however, and were not related.

In the 1950's, Crowley rotated her billing from "Patricia Crowley" to "Pat Crowley" and back again, even on some of the same television series, including Maverick.


2 comments:

  1. Pretty amazing that the three filss MacMurray and Stanwyck made together are all in entirely different genres -- romantic comedy ("Remember The Night"), film noir ("Double Indemnity") and this ('50s melodrama), yet each is an outstanding example of such. And, like Powell and Loy, each are so good in what they do that you're able to block out their earlier teamings.

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  2. vp19, That is so true. Maybe that is one of the reasons MacMurray and Stanwyck, became so popular. I have really enjoyed the new Barbara Stanwyck, DVD movie collection.

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