#hal rosson

[byneddiedingo]

Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946)

Cast: Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, Lionel Barrymore, Herbert Marshall, Lillian Gish, Walter Huston, Charles Bickford, Harry Carey, Tilly Losch, Butterfly McQueen. Screenplay: David O. Selznick, Oliver H.P. Garrett, based on a novel by Niven Busch. Cinematography: Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan, Harold Rosson. Production design: J. McMillan Johnson. Film editing: Hal C. Kern. Music: Dimitri Tiomkin.

This is a bad movie, but it's one distinguished in the annals of bad movies because it was made by David O. Selznick, who as the poster shouted at moviegoers, was "The Producer Who Gave You 'GONE WITH THE WIND.'" Selznick made it to showcase Jennifer Jones, the actress who won an Oscar as the saintly Bernadette of Lourdes in The Song of Bernadette (Henry King, 1943). Selznick, who left his wife for Jones, wanted to demonstrate that she was capable of much more than the sweetly gentle piety of Bernadette, so he cast her as the sultry Pearl Chavez in this adaptation (credited to Selznick himself along with Oliver H.P. Garrett, with some uncredited help by Ben Hecht) of the novel by Niven Busch. Opposite Jones, Selznick cast Gregory Peck as the amoral cowboy Lewt McCanles, who shares a self-destructive passion with Pearl. Both actors are radically miscast. Jones does a lot of eye- and teeth-flashing as Pearl, while Peck's usual good-guy persona undermines his attempts to play rapaciously sexy. The plot is one of those familiar Western tropes: good brother Jesse (Joseph Cotten) against bad 'un Lewt, reflecting the ill-matched personalities of their parents, the tough old cattle baron Jackson McCanles (Lionel Barrymore) and his gentle (and genteel) wife, Laura Belle (Lillian Gish). Pearl is an orphan, the improbable daughter of an improbable couple, the educated Scott Chavez (Herbert Marshall) and a sexy Indian woman (Tilly Losch), who angers him by fooling around with another man (Sidney Blackmer). Chavez kills both his wife and her lover and is hanged for it, so Pearl is sent to live with the McCanleses -- Laura Belle is Chavez's second cousin and old sweetheart -- on their Texas ranch. It's all pretentiously packaged by Selznick: not many other movies begin with both a "Prelude" and an "Overture," composed by Dimitri Tiomkin in the best overblown Hollywood style. It has Technicolor as lurid as its story, shot by three major cinematographers, Lee Garmes, Ray Rennahan, and Harold Rosson. But any attempt to generate real heat between Jones and Peck was quickly stifled by the Production Code, which even forced Selznick to introduce a voiceover at the beginning to explain that the character of the frontier preacher known as "The Sinkiller" (entertainingly played by Walter Huston) was not intended to be a representative clergyman. There are a few good moments, including an impressive tracking shot at the barbecue on the ranch in which various guests offer their opinions of Pearl, the McCanles brothers, and other things. Whether this scene can be credited to director King Vidor, who was certainly capable of it, is an open question, because Vidor found working with the obsessive Selznick so difficult that he quit the film. Selznick directed some scenes, as did Otto Brower, William Dieterle, Sidney Franklin, William Cameron Menzies, and Josef von Sternberg, all uncredited. The resulting melange is not unwatchable, thanks to a few good performances in secondary roles (Huston, Charles Bickford, Harry Carey), and perhaps also to some really terrible ones (Lionel Barrymore at his most florid and Butterfly McQueen repeating her fluttery air-headedness from GWTW).

[jeanharlow1930s]

[movingpictureball]

"Helen knew that she had never been a trouble to Uncle Wainwright. She wanted to thank him, more for his blessed heart of understanding than for any other thing..."

Still from the presumed lost Everything for Sale (1921), featuring May McAvoy and Edwin Stevens

[lanaturnerhascollapsed]

Hollywood, January 1935

[twixnmix]

Jean Harlow and her husband Hal Rosson at home with her stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Marino Bello in Los Angeles, September 1933.

In September 1933 Jean Harlow (1911-1937) married Hal Rosson (1895-1988) in Yuma, Arizona. This was Harlow’s third marriage. Rosson was fifteen years older than Jean and a highly regarded cinematographer on most of her MGM films. It was a union that would only last eight months. Jean announced plans to divorce him on May 7, 1934, but Rosson fell ill of polio at that time and she deferred her divorce action until he recovered in 1935. 

[jean--harlow]

Jean Harlow and Hal Rosson

[almanyalilar]

Red River – Kanlı Nehir

Red River – Kanlı Nehir

Hangi türden film olursa olsun hayvanlara eziyet edilen yapıtlardan nefret ediyorum. Filmde binler sığır bir şehriden başka bir şehire götürülecek ve orada hayvancağızlar ölmeyecek, mümkün mü bu? Ne acımasız bir eğlence. Atlar ve inekler özellikle kovboy filmlerinde en kolay ve ucuza harcanacak set malzemeleri gibi ele alınmış yıllar boyu. Kınamak boynumuzun borcu. Yere…

[stellabystarlight12]

May 9, 1934

WELL KNOWN SCREEN TRIO SEEN AT GERAGHTY-WILSON WEDDING

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.....JEAN HARLOW, IRVING THALBERG AND HIS WIFE, NORMA SHEARER, PHTOGRAPHED IN THE GARDEN OF LEILA HYAMS’ BEVERLY HILLS HOME FOLLOWING THE RECENT WEDDING OF CARMELITA GERAGHTY AND CAREY WILSON OF THE FILM COLONY. MISS HARLOW, WHO ACTED AS MATRON OF HONOR, ANNOUNCED HER SEPARATION FROM HER HUSBAND, HAL ROSSON, SHORTLY AFTER THE CEREMONY.

[thereisanelementoffun]

“I just wanted to tell you what I said to Korda this evening. ‘There’s one girl’, I said, ‘who did a scene from Saint Joan. I’ve had plenty of actresses in front of my camera with greater ability, but none with greater promise.’ I thought you might like to hear that before you go to bed. Good-bye.” - Hal Rosson to Lilli Palmer, Change Lobsters and Dance

Happy Birthday, Lilli Palmer (May 24, 1914 - January 27, 1986)

[filmstruck]

Jean Harlow: Five Facts by Jill Blake

Of Jean Harlow’s 22 credited feature films, FilmStruck has 15 starring the Platinum Blonde, including the steamy RED DUST (’32), alongside frequent co-star and close friend Clark Gable; the insanely funny BOMBSHELL (’33) alongside Lee Tracy; and the underrated melodrama WIFE VS. SECRETARY (’36), directed by Clarence Brown and starring Gable, Myrna Loy and James Stewart.

As you explore these and other films starring Harlow, here are five facts about Hollywood’s original Blonde Bombshell:

The Baby

Harlow was born Harlean Harlow Carpenter, on March 3, 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri to parents Mont Clair and Jean Carpenter, who were united in an arranged marriage by Mother Jean’s wealthy parents. Harlean was the couple’s only child and they called her “The Baby,” which would be her nickname amongst family and close friends for the rest of her life. The marriage between Mont Clair and Mother Jean was an unhappy one, in part due to Mother Jean’s lofty aspirations of becoming an actress. While Mother Jean and the young Harlean were very close (remaining so until Harlow’s death in 1937), Harlean adored her father. Unfortunately, after the couple divorced in 1922, Baby rarely saw her father.

Harlow’s Loves

Harlow had her share of love and loss to last several lifetimes, and yet she experienced it all within a tragically short 26 years. In 1927, at the age of 16, Harlow married the wealthy Charles McGrew, who was heir to a vast fortune. A year later, the couple moved to Los Angeles and fell into the socialite scene of Beverly Hills. On a bet from a friend, Harlow took a stab at acting, working as an extra in movies—just for fun, mind you. But when her marriage to McGrew disintegrated, Harlow moved in with Mother Jean and her new husband, Marino Bello. She then turned to acting as means of support. In 1932, Harlow married MGM producer Paul Bern, who convinced head producer Irving Thalberg to put Harlow under contract for the studio. However, just a couple months after they married, Bern was found dead under mysterious circumstances (and still debated today), although his death was ultimately ruled a suicide. Bern’s death was a monumental scandal for both Harlow and MGM, as well as the source of numerous theories as to the cause of his bizarre death. In the wake of Bern’s death, Harlow married cinematographer Harold Rosson in 1933, divorcing a few months later. Harlow would not marry again, but did find love with fellow MGM star William Powell, who remained with her until her death in 1937.

Hal Roach and Howard Hughes

Before Harlow signed on with MGM in 1932, she was under a five-year contract with Hal Roach Studios. Initially working as an extra, Harlow was cast in three short films alongside Roach’s top comedic talents, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. In these shorts, DOUBLE WHOOPEE, LIBERTY and BACON GRABBERS, all released in 1929, Harlow had larger, credited roles. Just as her career was starting to take off, her marriage to McGrew was ending and Harlow walked away from her contract with Roach. Several months later, Howard Hughes signed Harlow to another five-year contract, casting her in HELL’S ANGELS (’30), which catapulted her to stardom. While audiences loved her, critics were not kind in their assessments of her acting talents. Hughes put Harlow on numerous publicity tours to bolster her image, but it wasn’t until Thalberg and MGM bought out her contract with Hughes (at the insistence of Paul Bern) that Harlow was taken seriously as an actress.

No, It Wasn’t the Hair Dye or Her Christian Scientist Mother

Jean Harlow died on June 7, 1937 at the age of 26 of uremia as caused by chronic renal failure. At the time of her death and decades after, rumors circulated as to the cause. Two of the main theories pointed to the harsh dye routine she maintained early in her career to achieve her trademark platinum locks, and also the influence of Mother Jean’s Christian Scientist beliefs. While the dye routine did damage her hair, it was not the cause of her kidney failure. As for Mother Jean, she was no doubt an overbearing and oftentimes negative influence on her daughter, but her religious beliefs in the Christian Scientist faith (which questions the need for medical intervention) did not kill Harlow either. The most likely explanation of Harlow’s death is due to the severe case of scarlet fever that she contracted as a child, which can cause lasting damage to the kidneys. In the immediate years before her death, Harlow experienced poor health and fatigue which was often misdiagnosed as influenza or other curable ailments. The sad truth of the matter is that even with an accurate diagnosis, there really was no treatment for kidney failure at that time.

Harlow is Ageless (and yes, that is a fact)

Part of Jean Harlow’s lasting appeal is no doubt due in part to her tragic and untimely death. She was at the height of her stardom and was just coming into her own as a serious actress. It’s terribly sad that we didn’t get to see the truly great things that she was destined for in her career, but we still have the image of her as she was. We never saw her grow old. Her youth is forever preserved in celluloid where she will always be beautiful and mesmerizing and alive.

[burgerfiction]

Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927/28) - Charles Rosher & Karl Struss

White Shadows In The South Seas (1928/29) - Clyde De Vinna

With Byrd At The South Pole (1929/30) - Joseph T. Rucker & Willard Van der Veer

Tabu: A Story Of The South Seas (1930/31) - Floyd Crosby

Shanghai Express (1931/32) - Lee Garmes

A Farewell To Arms (1932/33) - Charles Lang

Cleopatra (1934) - Victor Milner

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) - Hal Mohr

Anthony Adverse (1936 B&W) - Tony Gaudio

The Garden Of Allah (1936 COLOR) - W. Howard Greene & Harold Rosson

The Good Earth (1937 B&W) - Karl Freund

A Star Is Born (1937 COLOR) - W. Howard Greene

The Great Waltz (1938 B&W) - Joseph Ruttenberg

Sweethearts (1938 COLOR) - Oliver T. Marsh & Allen Davey

Wuthering Heights (1939 B&W) - Gregg Toland

Gone With The Wind (1939 COLOR) - Ernest Haller & Ray Rennahan

Rebecca (1940 B&W) - George Barnes

The Thief Of Bagdad (1940 COLOR) - Georges Perinal

How Green Was My Valley (1941 B&W) - Arthur C. Miller

Blood And Sand (1941 COLOR) - Ernest Palmer & Ray Rennahan

Mrs. Miniver (1942 B&W) - Joseph Ruttenberg

The Black Swan (1942 COLOR) - Leon Shamroy

The Song Of Bernadette (1943 B&W) - Arthur C. Miller

Phantom Of The Opera (1943 COLOR) - Hal Mohr & W. Howard Greene

Laura (1944 B&W) - Joseph LaShelle

Wilson (1944 COLOR) - Leon Shamroy

The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945 B&W) - Harry Stradling

Leave Her To Heaven (1945 COLOR) - Leon Shamroy

Anna And The King Of Siam (1945 B&W) - Arthur C. Miller

The Yearling (1946 COLOR) - Charles Rosher, Leonard Smith & Arthur E. Arling

Great Expectations (1947 B&W) - Guy Green

Black Narcissus (1947 COLOR) - Jack Cardiff

The Naked City (1948 B&W) - William H. Daniels

Joan Of Arc (1948 COLOR) - Joseph A. Valentine, William V. Skall & Winton Hoch

Battleground (1949 B&W) - Paul C. Vogel

She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949 COLOR) - Winton Hoch

The Third Man (1950 B&W) - Robert Krasker

King Solomon’s Mines (1950 COLOR) - Robert Surtees

A Place In The Sun (1951 B&W) - William C. Mellor

An American In Paris (1951 COLOR) - Alfred Gilks & John Alton

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952 B&W) - Robert Surtees

The Quiet Man (1952 COLOR) - Winton Hoch & Archie Stout

From Here To Eternity (1953 B&W) - Burnett Guffey

Shane (1953 COLOR) - Loyal Griggs

On The Waterfront (1954 B&W) - Boris Kaufman

Three Coins In The Fountain (1954 COLOR) - Milton R. Krasner

The Rose Tattoo (1955 B&W) - James Wong Howe

To Catch A Thief (1955 COLOR) - Robert Burks

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956 B&W) - Joseph Ruttenberg

Around The World In 80 Days (1956 COLOR) - Lionel Lindon

The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) - Jack Hildyard

The Defiant Ones (1958 B&W) - Sam Leavitt

Gigi (1958 COLOR) - Joseph Ruttenberg

The Diary Of Anne Frank (1959 B&W) - William C. Mellor

Ben-Hur (1959 COLOR) - Robert Surtees

Sons And Lovers (1960 B&W) - Freddie Francis

Spartacus (1960 COLOR) - Russel Metty

The Hustler (1961 B&W) - Eugen Schufftan

West Side Story (1961 COLOR) - Daniel L. Fapp

The Longest Day (1962 B&W) - Jean Bourgoin & Walter Wottitz

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962 COLOR) - Freddie Young

Hud (1963 B&W) - James Wong Howe

Cleopatra (1963 COLOR) - Leon Shamroy

Zorba The Greek (1964 B&W) - Walter Lassally

My Fair Lady (1964 COLOR) - Harry Stradling

Ship Of Fools (1965 B&W) - Ernest Laszlo

Doctor Zhivago (1965 COLOR) - Freddie Young

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966 B&W) - Haskell Wexler

A Man For All Seasons (1966 COLOR) - Ted Moore

Bonnie And Clyde (1967) - Burnett Guffey

Romeo And Juliet (1968) - Pasqualino De Santis

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969) - Conrad L. Hall

Ryan’s Daughter (1970) - Freddie Young

Fiddler On The Roof (1971) - Oswald Morris

Cabaret (1972) - Geoffrey Unsworth

Cries And Whispers (1973) - Sven Nykvist

The Towering Inferno (1974) - Fred J. Koenekamp & Joseph F. Biroc

Barry Lyndon (1975) - John Alcott

Bound For Glory (1976) - Haskell Wexler

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) - Vilmos Zsigmond

Days Of Heaven (1978) - Nestor Almendros

Apocalypse Now (1979) - Vittorio Storaro

Tess (1980) - Geoffrey Unsworth & Ghislain Cloquet

Reds (1981) - Vittorio Storaro

Gandhi (1982) - Billy Williams & Ronnie Taylor

Fanny And Alexander (1983) - Sven Nykvist

The Killing Fields (1984) - Chris Menges

Out Of Africa (1985) - David Watkin

The Mission (1986) - Chris Menges

The Last Emperor (1987) - Vittorio Storaro

Mississippi Burning (1988) - Peter Biziou

Glory (1989) - Freddie Francis

Dances With Wolves (1990) - Dean Semler

JFK (1991) - Robert Richardson

A River Runs Through It (1992) - Philippe Rousselot

Schindler’s List (1993) - Janusz Kaminski

Legends Of The Fall (1994) - John Toll

Braveheart (1995) - John Toll

The English Patient (1996) - John Seale

Titanic (1997) - Russell Carpenter

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Janusz Kaminski

American Beauty (1999) - Conrad L. Hall

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) - Peter Pau

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) - Andrew Lesnie

Road To Perdition (2002) - Conrad L. Hall

Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World (2003) - Russell Boyd

The Aviator (2004) - Robert Richardson

Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005) - Dion Beebe

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) - Guillermo Navarro

There Will Be Blood (2007) - Robert Elswit

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - Anthony Dod Mantle

Avatar (2009) - Mauro Fiore

Inception (2010) - Wally Pfister

Hugo (2011) - Robert Richardson

Life Of Pi (2012) - Claudio Miranda

Gravity (2013) - Emmanuel Lubezki

Birdman (2014) - Emmanuel Lubezki

The Revenant (2015) - Emmanuel Lubezki

La La Land (2016) - Linus Sandgren

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) - Roger Deakins

[byneddiedingo]

James Caan, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Hunnicutt, and John Wayne in El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1967) Cast: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Arthur Hunnicutt, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Michele Carey, Edward Asner, Christopher George, R.G. Armstrong, Johnny Crawford. Screenplay: Leigh Brackett, based on a novel by Harry Brown. Cinematography: Harold Rosson. Art direction: Carl Anderson, Hal Pereira. Film editing: John Woodcock. Music: Nelson Riddle. Like his later Rio Lobo (1970), Howard Hawks's El Dorado isn't so much a remake of his Rio Bravo (1959) as a movie built on its template: Gunfighter John Wayne teams up with a drunken sheriff, a greenhorn, and an old coot to stand off an assault by the bad guys, who greatly outnumber them. Wayne retains his earlier role in El Dorado, but here the drunken sheriff is Robert Mitchum, the greenhorn is James Caan, and the old coot is Arthur Hunnicutt, replacing Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan, respectively, in the earlier film. Unfortunately, Hawks was unable to find a suitable replacement for Angie Dickinson's Feathers, the "Hawksian woman" in Rio Bravo, and tried without much success to sub in two C-list actresses, Charlene Holt as Maudie, the woman with a past that involves both Wayne and Mitchum, and Michele Carey as the hoydenish Joey. Neither makes the impression that Dickinson made. Leigh Brackett was disappointed to find that Hawks had turned her screenplay into a reworking of Rio Bravo, but she was used to his freewheeling ways by then, having worked for him on The Big Sleep (1946) and Hatari! (1962). There are diminishing returns to any kind of remake, and by the time Hawks made Rio Lobo, the template had worn thin, but El Dorado is solid enough entertainment, especially when Wayne and Mitchum are on screen together, playing off of each other gleefully. Except for the rather hackneyed "El Dorado" theme song over the opening credits, with its by-the-numbers lyrics by John Gabriel, Nelson Riddle's score is a pleasant surprise in its avoidance of Western movie clichés -- no cowboy songs or "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." The one sour note in the movie comes when Caan puts on a racial-caricature "Chinaman" act to get the jump on a lurking gunman.

[jeanharlow1930s]

[movingpictureball]

"Helen felt disinterested. She didn't seem to care whether she looked as gorgeous as Aunt Wainwright would have her or not. But she managed somehow to smile"

Still from the presumed lost Everything for Sale (1921), featuring May McAvoy (left) and Kathlyn Williams (right)

[thegreatgildy]

The Opening Shot… is fired in the new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, "100% Pure"… Left to right, Cameraman Hal Rosson, in white shirt; the script secretary; Authoress Anita Loos; Director Sam Wood; and the players, Lewis Stone and Jean Harlow.