...to be a VERY hard film to find a copy of... ...Y'all have a snarky, yet beguiling April Fools Day, y'all! Could you imagine what Ginger pulled on April 1st? She was quite the prankster, ya know! The pic above looks like she was up to something... BTW - I would be pretty mad at myself now if I had just read this post... :-P ...where's your holiday spirit? Hope to get the Tenderfoot review up by tomorrow... until then... KIG, y'all!!! VKMfanHuey ---
2013 Alternate Oscars
4 days ago
...but it does exist, right? As long as it does, that's good news. I bring this up because apparently four-fifths of films made before 1930 have either disappeared or are incomplete, and at 8 p.m.(ET) Sunday, TCM in the U.S. is showing some of those incomplete snippets in a special called "Fragments." Some of the stars to be shown include a few Ginger probably liked in her youth, such as Clara Bow (her lone film footage in color!) and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. Looks like something most classic Hollywood buffs would be interested in seeing.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, while doing some Carole Lombard research the other day, I discovered that in 1939, RKO briefly wanted Carole and Ginger to co-star in "Vigil In The Night." I'm guessing it never happened because the role Ginger would have played was sort of a supporting role, and by '39 she had gained enough popularity and star power to warrant her own A-level vehicles. It's unfortunate they never made a film together, though. And both loved to pull pranks.
My entry on "Vigil," which concerns another actress considered for the part, can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/carole_and_co/397867.html
OK, you got me. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sure it WILL be found someday!
I want Fred and Ginger outtakes! You'd think they would be somewhere...
ReplyDeleteMy April Gingertennial pic is up!
That's not nice!! - but you got me. : )
ReplyDeleteno way Ron - you know Fred the perfectionist probably had those destroyed!
ReplyDeleteVP: I have heard a few folks say they have heard of someone who heard...blah blah blah... that they had a viewing of it from original print... but was in horrendous condition... would LOVE to see FOX clean a copy up and distribute it... I feel they SHOULD have a copy, although it is pretty disheartening to hear of so many pre-30's movies gone... thanks for the info about the 'fragments' deal on TCM... should be quite interesting... AND, sad that Ginger and Carole couldn't get going on a film together...would have been great to see! Thanks again for all the AWESOME info, VP!!!
ReplyDeleteBetsy: Well, here's hoping someone finds a set of reels in a trunk somewhere and gets them to the proper restoration gurus... Hope you are well, Betsy! - BTW - if ya don't mid me asking, how is the 'A-train' going for you? I am currently just trying the 'low-fat' deal, with mixed results... will probably get on Atkins by summer...it is a superior method!!!
Ron: GandF 'bloopers'... would be pretty awesome - there's probably some of those 'almost, not quite' shoots of their routines... AND great pic of Ginger! That one is DEFINITELY from 'Shall We Dance', since that freaky finned chrome desk-counter thingie she is leaning on is used in the scene where she signs up for the mail plane off of the ship...
AC: Sorry - yeah, it was a pretty cruel one - again, if I had read that, then found it was bogus, would have been just a bit hacked off... but thanks for not breaking out the skeet rifle on me! :-]
SG: yep - I concur... Fred probably had it in his contract that he either gets all the stuff that didn't make it into the film, or just to have it scrapped... but ya never know... although if it was out there, would probably be in VERY bad shape for its age and lack of 'care'...
Well, hope everyone is alright out there, and made it thru AFD without further incident!!!
KIG!
VKMfanHuey
---
Keep your fingers crossed. One of Lombard's films, "I Take This Woman" (1931, co-starring Gary Cooper) was presumed lost for decades, but a 16mm copy of it was found in the Maine home of author Mary Roberts Rinehart, whose book "Lost Ecstasy" was adapted for the movie. It has since been shown in theaters such as Film Forum and the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, Mont. (also Cooper's hometown, although curiously he and Myrna never made a movie together), but comparatively few have seen it and it hasn't been issued on DVD.
ReplyDeleteI believe Lubitsch's wonderful "The Smiling Lieutenant" (jazz up your lingerie!) was also deemed lost until it was found in Czechoslovakia some years back. Since then, it's been regularly seen on TCM and has been issued as part of a collection of 1929-32 Lubitsch musical films.