Apology for viewing
Sorry for the light posting, and this one is basically gonna be a place-holder, in part because I don't want a hateful name to be the first thing any visitor sees on arriving. I've been not so much resting as thinking (trying to put together a post about the shuttering of New Line, a subject of some complexity for reasons easily inferred by Premiere readers with longish memories) and viewing...most notably, the Peggy Ann Garner double feature of Daisy Kenyon and Black Widow.
Well, that's one way to categorize a pair of pictures in Fox's latest Film Noir DVD releases. The still-little Peggy Ann, of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn fame, plays the older of Dana Andrew and Ruth Warrick's two beleagured daughters in 1947's Kenyon, which I first brought up in a post below. Garner is not quite as innocent in 1954's Black Widow, an enjoyable piece of work from Nunnally Johnson, one of Hollywood's smartest journeymen, which I found most beguiling due to the specific qualities of its early Cinemascope image and 4-track stereo sound. Wonky of me, I know. I'll get into both in more detail sometime soon...
Kenyon struck me as a stone masterpiece on revisiting after several decades, and put me on a bit of a Preminger kick, sending me to 1963's oft-sniffed-at The Cardinal, another of Preminger's films I haven't looked at in a while. I'm still taking it in, but I feel confident in pronouncing its final 40 minutes or so as among the director's most outstanding achievements. I have a little more wool to gather, and some social obligations to meet, before weighing in further...here's hoping your own weekend viewing is as fulfilling...
The Cardinal is tremendously underrated, a brassy, vulgar epic that condenses what was obviously a terrible novel into a relentless, tough-minded stream of events that just never lets up.
Posted by: vadim | March 08, 2008 at 08:45 PM
Every time I think about canceling my Netflix, you post something like this and I have to head back on over there!
Posted by: oakling | March 09, 2008 at 02:12 PM
ANY MOVIE WITH THE GREATEST ACTRESS WHO EVER LIVED-MY ANGEL PEGGY ANN GARNER WILL ALWAYS BE #1
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | May 31, 2008 at 01:00 PM
MY PEGGY ANN IS THE BEST!!!!!!!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | June 07, 2008 at 12:32 PM
MY ANGEL PEGGY ANN GARNER IS THE BEST AND SHE ALWAYS WILL BE!!!!!!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | July 21, 2008 at 08:33 PM
AS THE DAYS GO ON MY PEGGY ANN BECOMES GREATER! CHECK OUT HER GREAT FILM NOB HILL (1945)WHERE SHE PLAYS A LITTLE IRISH GIRL.SHE WILL WIN OVER YOUR HEART LIKE SHE DID IN "TREE." THERE IS ONLY ONE PEGGY ANN GARNER AND SHE IS RESIDING WITH THE ANGLES IN GOD'S KINGDOM. SHE WILL ALWAYS BE MY LITTLE ANGEL!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | July 28, 2008 at 12:43 PM
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF PEGGY ANN'S LONG FORGOTTON TV SERIES TWO GIRLS NAMED SMITH IS AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING? IT WENT OFF THE AIR IN 1951 AFTER ONLY 9 MONTHS OF VIEWING.
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | August 12, 2008 at 02:35 PM
MY PEGGY ANN IN THE MOVIE BLACK WIDOW (1954) MADE NANCY ORDWAY COME TO LIFE. THERE IS ONLY ONE PEGGY ANN AND SHE IS AN ANGEL!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | August 12, 2008 at 02:37 PM
I wonder if this nut job above knows that using all capital letter is the online equivalent of screaming at people?
Posted by: Steve | August 28, 2008 at 03:54 PM
THE PERSON ABOVE MUST HAVE VERY LITTLE EDUCATION BECAUSE HIS VOCABULARY IS OF VERY LOW QUALITY, PROBABLY LIKE HIS CHARACTER.
HIS LOW CLASS COMMENT DOES NOT BELONG WITH THE COMMENTS ABOUT THE GREATEST ACTRESS WHO EVER LIVED-MY PEGGY ANN GARNER!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | September 14, 2008 at 01:13 AM
Well, Mr. Dattolo, I've aheard of your presence in school for the past 6,000 something days. Your article in People magazine has moved me. (I checked in the archive). I have great respect for the fact you use capital letters does not bother me. It overall has made me a better person. Please, understand me when I say that you voice comes from within, and does not get increased by use CAPS LOCK. Do you know how to turn that off though? Well I best be headed off for it's time to as them Germans say "saddle up". Please, do not get any sicknesses soon, just keep on truckin!!
P.S. I'm a avid Peggy Ann Garner fan, too!
Posted by: Judge Judy | September 19, 2008 at 03:43 PM
PEGGY ANN WAS GREAT IN HER LONG LOST TV SERIES TWO GIRLS NAMED SMITH (1951.)IF ONLY THOSE LONG LOST SHOWS EXISTED ON TAPE!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | December 26, 2008 at 08:01 AM
MY PEGGY ANN WILL BE 77 YEARS OLD ON FEBRUARY 3RD. SHE IS GONE BUT HER LEGACY WILL LIVE FOREVER. GOD BLESS YOU MY ANGEL.
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | February 01, 2009 at 07:44 PM
TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN MY PEGGY ANN'S 58TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY TO HER FIRST HUSBAND RICHARD HAYES. HE MADE THE BIGGEST MSTAKE OF HIS LIFE WHEN HE DIVORCED HER IN 1953.THE BEST MAN AT THE WEDDING WAS ED SULLIVAN!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | February 22, 2009 at 04:27 PM
PEGGY ANN GARNER LIVES! I HAVE PURCHASED THE RARE MOVIE THE LOVEABLE CHEAT (1949) THIS PEGGY ANN MOVIES WAS CONSIDERED LOST UNTIL I FOUND IT. MY ANGEL PEGGY ANN GARNER WILL ALWAYS BE THE GREATEST ACTRESS WHO EVER LIVED!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | April 12, 2009 at 10:55 AM
LITTLE BY LITTLE I NOTICE THAT PEGGY ANN GARNER'S MOVIES ARE COMING BACK TO LIFE. IF ONLY HER TV SHOWS WOULD DO THE SAME. GOD BLESS PEGGY ANN GARNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Alphonse Dattolo | June 07, 2009 at 01:25 PM
In researching Peggy Ann for her book-length biography, I was so pleased to learn from her friends, relatives and co-stars what a beautiful, loving person she was, inside and out. One of the pages of my website is a mini-bio of her with quite a few photos. Its URL is http://www.sandragrabman.com/garner.html
Posted by: Sandra Grabman | June 19, 2009 at 10:18 AM