Sunday, July 14, 2013

Dynamic Duos in Classic Film Blogathon: Cary Grant and Carole Lombard.



Who, does not love a classic movie Dynamic Duo? My personal pick for one of the most romantic movie couples of all time for this Blogathon, is Cary Grant and Carole Lombard. Their performance are realistic and believable and they made it look easy. The memory of their love stays with you long after the classic movie, In Name Only is over. The only movie that they were a romantic couple.


I fell in love with the performances of Lombard and Grant in the classic film, In Name Only(1939). Alec, who in a loveless marriage, still looking for a true love. Alec, is kind and trusting and Julie is patiently waiting for her man, dealing with the pressures of society and what other people might think. Will Julie and Alec ever get to be together? A wonderful drama directed by John Cromwell. Music by Roy Webb created the mood.

Video: A charming scene "gone fishing".



I would have also liked to see them as a Dynamic Duo in the classic films:


They co-starred early in their career in The Eagle and The Hawk(1933) with Fredric March, but they shared no scenes together. March is Grant's training officer and he washes him out as a pilot. Grant resents this and slugs him and becomes tail-gunner. Eventually, March becomes an air ace. But soon all the deaths of his comrades really takes it's toll on him. He's a sensitive soul and he starts to crack up. By then Grant is on the scene as his tail-gunner, but they're still not getting along. Cary Grant plays very much against type. Jack Oakie is around to do the comic relief. Carole Lombard is in this as well for about 10 minutes as a woman March encounters while on a 10 day leave. It's a good anti-war film and the ending will surprise you.

Cary had a small role in one of Carole's earlier films, Sinners in The Sun(1932). A beautifully written movie, where Chester Morris and Carole Lombard love each other, but she is terrified of the life of poverty. So they break up and they drift into lives as a kept woman and a gigolo. Cary Grant, in his second movie, but if you're not paying attention you could easily miss him, his voice was far more distinctive than his good looks at this stage of his career..





Participating Blogs

The Hollywood Revue – Greta Garbo and John Gilbert
Outspoken & Freckled - Nick and Nora Charles
Bogie Film Blog – Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre
Picture Spoilers – Dynamic Duos in Libeled Lady
Stardust – Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck
Caftan Woman – Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Comet Over Hollywood – Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear – Martin and Lewis
Silver Scenes – Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson
Movies Silently - Vilma Banky & Ronald Colman in The Winning of Barbara Worth
Critica Retro – Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp film depictions
Shadows and Satin – Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake
The Joy and Agony of Movies – Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck
Greg McCambley on Citizen Screenings - Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles in The Third Man
Durnmoose Movie Musings – Abbott & Costello
Silver Screenings – Bob Hope & Bing Crosby in a “Road” picture
The Nitrate Diva – Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich
Weird Flix - Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, 50th Anniversary of Beach Party
The Man on the Flying Trapeze — Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, focus on Hold Your Man
Viv and Larry — Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier (on-screen and off-screen)
The Baz – Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone
Lime Reviews - Charlie Chaplin and Claire Bloom in Limelight
Furious Cinema - Lemmon and Matthau in The Odd Couple
Vienna’s Classic Hollywood – Thelma Ritter and Connie Gilchrist
Cinematic Catharsis – Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in Horror of Dracula
Krell Laboratories - Special Japanese legends Pairings
Film Flare - Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren
Lindsay’s Movie Musings – Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda’s friendship
The Vintage Cameo – Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra
The Jeanette MacDonald Blog – Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
The Great Katharine Hepburn – Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
Classic Movie Man – Irene Dunne and Cary Grant
Virtual Virago – Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney
Be Careful! Your Hand! - Maleficent and her crow Diablo from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty
Noir and Chick Flicks – Carole Lombard and Cary Grant
The Motion Pictures – Cary Grant and Joan Bennett in Big Brown Eyes and Wedding Present
The Stop Button – Lon Chaney Jr and Bela Lugosi
She Blogged by Night – Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
Hitless Wonder Movie Blog – Evelyn Ankers and Lon Chaney Jr.
Movie Classics – Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Hero Histories – The Lone Ranger & Tonto – film incarnations – Part 1
Secret Sanctum of Captain Video – The Lone Ranger & Tonto – Part 2
Western Comics Adventures – The Lone Ranger & Tonto – Part 3
The Last Drive In – Bette vs. Joan, “Get Back in the Chair Blanche”
The Last Drive In – Bette vs. Joan, “I wouldn’t piss on Joan Crawford if she were on Fire”
Trocadero Baby – Farley Granger and Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train
Terrible Movies – Godzilla and Mothra
Frankly My Dear - Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Too Many GirlsThe Long Long Trailer and Forever Darling
We Recycle Movies – Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson
Cinemalacrum – Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Godard’s Breathless
Classic Movie Hub – Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont
Citizen Screenings – Batman (1966)
Once Upon a Screen - Crawford and Gable

Topic TBD

10 comments:

  1. Somehow I missed hearing about this blogathon! Had I known about it, I would have focused on Montgomery Clift and Eizabeth Taylor.

    Anyhow, I love "In Name Only." It is such a sweet and touching film. I think Cary and Carole made a great couple, and I definitely would have liked to have seen them paired up regularly.

    I'm going out of town tomorrow, so my blog will be sitting idle and I will be out of blog land for awhile. Catch you next week.

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    1. I'm sorry you missed out on the fun. Please check my side-bar for other up coming blogathons!!

      Have a fun and safe trip!! We will save your place. :)

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  2. Carole and Cary were such great screen personalities. It would have been great to see them in a comedy. "In Name Only" is a movie I haven't seen in many years. I'll have to put it on the list for when I'm in the sad-romance mood.

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  3. Who doesn't love Cary Grant? And with Carole he is even better. I widh they had done more films together, being so wonderful in comedies.
    Kisses!

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    1. I know.. me too, I'm very surprised that they didn't.

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  4. Well. I have not seen any of the Grant/Lombard films you mentioned, but I'll have to make it a priority to see "In Name Only".

    Also, I think it was really good of you to go to all the trouble of linking to participating blogs. Thanks for doing that. :)

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    Replies
    1. I think "In Name Only," will be one of your favorite classic movies. :)

      Your welcome:)

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  5. Cary Grant certainly is popular this blogathon! I liked your post - I always forget how funny Lombard is. I loved the fishing clip.

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    Replies
    1. That tells you something about what a wonderful actor Cary Grant was.

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