Hey All!!
I presume you enjoyed week three’s picture—“Rebecca” (1940)! One could say Mrs. Danvers was so obsessed with the late Rebecca de Winter that she no doubt brought the house down (…& yep, I penned that gag myself! lol)!
Obsession isn’t only found throughout the scenes of our previous picture nonetheless, but also throughout the pages of ‘Laura’, a 1943 novel written by Vera Caspary. This book follows homicide detective Mark McPherson while he investigates the murder of Laura Hunt, a smart and beautiful New York advertiser. Except the deeper McPherson delves into Laura’s past through her surviving pursuers—Waldo Lydecker, her middle-aged writer lover, and Shelby Carpenter, her former fiancé—the more obsessed he himself becomes with the deceased woman!
Perhaps obsession clouded the mind of novelist Ben Ames Williams as well which led him to pen ‘Leave Her to Heaven’, his novel published in 1944. In this book, novelist Richard Harland marries beautiful socialite Ellen Berent only to later discover that she would destroy any and everything that threatened to stand between them including Harlan’s family members, reputation, and even unborn child!
Beside the fact both our final week’s pictures (…yep, that’s right—two pictures this week!) were adapted from highly successful novels (of the same name) and explore the subject matter of ‘obsession’, both our pictures also star one of classical Hollywood’s most gorgeous and convincing leading ladies—Gene Tierney!
Now, at this juncture, I was tempted to discuss Mrs. Tierney’s illustrious and lengthy career on the big screen, but rather than do this, I’ll simply present our fourth & final week’s pictures—‘Laura’ (1944) & ‘Leave Her to Heaven’ (1945)!!
‘But why two pictures this week?’ one may ask.
Well, not only because they’re both masterpieces featuring an array of leading/supporting stars (‘Laura’: Dana Andrews, Clifton Web, Vincent Price, and Judith Anderson; & ‘Leave Her to Heaven’: Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain (..yay! lol), and once more, the delightful Vincent Price), but by and large because ‘Laura’ (1944) – my initial week four selection– wasn’t available on Youtube without charge. Hence rather than inconvenience some participants, I instead selected an additional film which contained a few identical stars, one returning star from weeks past (Crain, yay!), and our week’s mini theme — ‘obsession’.
Now though some may only view one of our two this week, I nevertheless plan to view both (…as I can’t get enough of classical pictures)!
Enjoy folks, and we’ll ttys!!
Phil