Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

May 26, 2023

Our Dorothy McGuire movies this week occupy two ends of the mid-50s Hollywood spectrum: a low-budget black-and-white noirish crime thriller for Republic, Make Haste to Live (1954), and a vibrantly colorful Cinemascope travelogue romance for Fox, Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). We find plenty to recommend in both, from Make Haste to Live's stylish cinematography (by John L. Russell of Moonrise and Psycho fame) and palpable nastiness to McGuire's odd comedic chemistry with Clifton Webb in Three Coins. As McGuire seriously settles into the "mother and spinster roles" part of her career, we consider what kind of scope individual roles of this kind gave her, and so far they're looking as eccentric as any "love interest" roles she had in the past, which is good news. 

 

Time Codes:

0h 00m 45s:      MAKE HASTE TO LIVE (1954) [dir. William A. Seiter]

0h 35m 50s:      THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN (1954) [dir. Jean Negulesco]

+++

* Listen to our guest episode on The Criterion Project – a discussion of Late Spring

* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: “Sunday” by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise’s piece on Gangs of New York “Making America Strange Again”

* Check out Dave’s Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist’s 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project! 

Follow us on Twitter at @therebuggy

Write to us at therebuggy@gmail.com

We now have a Discord server - just drop us a line if you'd like to join!