Olivia in "The Proud Rebel" at the TCM Classic Film Festival

It's been fun reading all the blog posts on this years TCM fest!

A few posts to share in case you missed them:

First, Laura had the rare opportunity to see both an Olivia AND Joan film in the same day! How awesome is that?  First was the screening of The Proud Rebel (1958) and an interview with Alan Ladd's son David Ladd, who also appears in the movie.  Check out Laura's post here. Laura also caught a screening of 1940's Rebecca!

Also, the Classic Movie Man made it to The Proud Rebel screening, too. He hadn't seen the movie in over 25 years! Read his account here. 

Kristina of Speakeasy also caught The Proud Rebel - read her review here.

So much fun and excitement at the TCM Fest! Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences!

Not As a Stranger (1955)

Not As a Stranger,  from 1955, is a medical drama starring Olivia deHavilland and Robert Mitchum. The directorial debut of Stanley Kramer, Not As a Stranger features an excellent supporting cast--- Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford, and Charles Bickford.

Ambitious, self-righteous Luke Marsh (Robert Mitchum) is a medical school student.

Luke's financial status isn't the best, though, and in order to make extra money, he cleans the pathology lab.  Even with that job, though, he is behind on his tuition payments.  A trip to his drunken father gets him nowhere---not only does his dad not have any money for him, but he also tells Luke that he will never be a doctor because brains are not enough...he has to have a heart...and that he does not have.  Luke is aware that should he not come up with the $400 payment, he will be out of school, so he asks one of his instructors and one of his friends for some help.  Still, though, Luke is short, and he is told that he has 30 days in which to make the payment or else he's out.

One of the nurses at the hospital, Christina Hedvigson (Olivia deHavilland), an unsophisticated Swedish girl, invites Luke and his friend Al (Frank Sinatra) to dinner at her apartment.  Through their dinner conversation, Luke discovers that Christina has put into savings half of every paycheck and that she has a sizeable nest egg available to her.  The wheels begin turning, and before long, though he is not attracted to her, Luke begins dating Christina.  (One fun thing about their date---they went to a movie---the Humphrey Bogart/Ava Gardner flick, The Barefoot Contessa.  I always think it's fun to see other classic movies showing up in a classic movie.)  Knowing that Christina loves him, and wanting use of her money, Luke tells Christina he loves her and asks her to marry him.

Because he knows Christina's gauche, unsophisticated ways are not for Luke, Al realizes Luke is marrying her for her money, and he calls him on the carpet for that.  Luke responds that Christina will never know he doesn't love her, and he goes through with the marriage. He seems disgusted on their wedding night, though with himself for marrying a woman he doesn't love, or whether with Christina's lack of sophistication, is not clear.

Able to pay his tuition, Luke completes medical school, all the while being argumentative and arrogant.  He is intolerant of mistakes...he blasts anyone who is not as perfect as he is.  Even Christina...in one heated argument, he lets her know that he thinks she's stupid.

Eventually, Luke begins practicing with a small-town doctor, and it is there that he begins an affair with a young widow (Gloria Grahame).  Christina, however, has had enough---the cheating, the condescending attitude, the intolerance of anything less than perfection.  She wants nothing more to do with Luke, and it is only afterwards that Luke understands that he, too, is imperfect, that he, too, is capable of making a mistake.

Does Luke ever get down off his high horse and humble himself?  Does Christina take him back?  These are the questions which will play out in this film.

Not As a Stranger is a bit on the long side---over two hours and fifteen minutes---and there were a couple times it dragged a tiny bit. However, that dragging wasn't enough to change my opinion of the film.  I thought it was a powerful story, with good acting by both leads, especially Olivia deHavilland.  It was a bit odd hearing her talk with a Swedish accent; and it was even more odd to see her as a platinum blonde.  Another funny thing in this film are the hospital scenes.  Patients smoking in their hospital beds never cease to amuse me.  Definitely, a dated movie in that regard.

Anyhow, I think this film is a very worthwhile couple of hours, so I hope you get a chance to see this.  I caught it on TCM a couple years ago, but I do believe it is available on DVD.

My Cousin Rachel (1952)

Admin note: Today's post is written by our newest team member Patti from They Don't Make 'em Like They Used To!

My Cousin Rachel, from 1952, is a suspenseful romantic drama starring Olivia deHavilland and Richard Burton.  Based on the Daphne duMaurier novel of the same name, this story has elements in common with another of the author's works—Rebecca—namely, a large manor house, the English coast, and a mysterious death.  This film, though, takes place during the early 1800's.

Phillip Ashley (Richard Burton), having lost his parents when he was but a few months old, has lived with his wealthy cousin/guardian, Ambrose, all his life.  Though the two get along extremely well and are more like father and son than cousins, when Phillip reaches his twenties, Ambrose departs coastal England for the warmer temperatures of Italy.  While there, he meets and marries his distant cousin Rachel (Olivia deHavilland), informing Phillip of the marriage through a letter.

Ambrose seems happy enough, but shortly after the first letter, another letter arrives, this one referring to Rachel as "his torment" and indicating that she is trying to kill him.  Concerned, Phillip heads to Florence to see for himself what is going on.  By the time he arrives, though, Ambrose has already died and been buried, and Rachel has left town.  Although Phillip is informed that Ambrose had been suffering from a brain tumor which had resulted in delusional thoughts, he still believes Ambrose had, in fact, been in danger from his wife.  After vowing to Ambrose's grave that he will repay his cousin Rachel, Phillip returns to England.

Not long afterwards, Rachel, who is younger and more beautiful than they expected her to be, makes a visit to the Ashley Estate. As Phillip and Rachel spend time together, Phillip comes to believe that there was absolutely no truth to Ambrose's letters...that they really were the result of a delusional mind...that Rachel had never done his cousin any harm. Completely in love with Rachel, Phillip refuses to believe stories which indicate she is not what she appears to be.

Since Ambrose's will made no allowance for a wife, but left everything to Phillip, could it be that Rachel is stringing him along?  Perhaps she really did murder Ambrose and will, very soon, find a way to get her hands on the estate and murder Phillip as well.  These are the questions that play out in this mildly suspenseful Gothic drama.

My Cousin Rachel is interesting and entertaining, and while not of the same caliber as Rebecca, it is, nevertheless, a very solid 3-star film. Olivia deHavilland gave a superb performance. She really had a broad range of ability, and I have enjoyed discovering that she was far more than simply sugary-sweet Melanie Hamilton. Richard Burton's performance was "so-so" to me. I never—not even for a moment—felt that his love for Rachel was real. He just seemed lukewarm to me, his passion forced; however, despite Burton's less-than-believable performance, I was interested enough in the outcome to keep on watching.

To my knowledge, this film is not out on DVD, but it is available in its entirety on YouTube (above).