Poseidon Quickies: "Crane" Your Neck This Way a Minute. (2024)

Hi Poseidon!

It would be stretching to say I loved this one, but I did love certain things about the film.

Competing for the number one spot is the luminous Jean Simmons playing quite a liberated woman for the 1950’s and she’s in a photo finish for that top spot with Evelyn Varden (I literally yelled Icey Spoon!-one of the best character names ever, the first time she appeared on screen), who simply makes a meal of the vicious grasping hoyden she’s playing.

Despite being a major star in the 50’s I think Jean was and is underrated. Her lovely, somewhat still glacial beauty (utilized so brilliantly in ‘Angel Face” and rarely as well afterwards) often got in the way of her real skill for characterization. This is hardly Jean’s best film but a nice showy role, one initially intended for dramatic Queen of the Fox lot Susan Hayward who went on suspension rather than take the part, coming during her big time leading lady years (and followed by one of her most winning films “This Could Be the Night”). But as much as it’s a big fat Movie Star role it will never stand with her work in “Angel Face”, “All the Way Home”, “Elmer Gantry” or “The Actress” (or “The Thornbirds” on TV) as among her best.

Having seen this I have a tough time envisioning Jessica Tandy in the part, but then stage presence and film presence are so different, and this was her follow-up to “A Streetcar Named Desire.” I read up on the play/film a little. She was far from the first choice and the list of alternates are a truly odd mix. It was intended for Joan Fontaine, who withdrew for personal reasons, then Margaret Sullavan who refused, accepted and then withdrew followed by Ingrid Bergman and June Havoc! Love the last three of those women and like Fontaine usually (though she often reads distant and frosty) but they are wildly different from each other! It makes me think the producers didn’t have a firm grasp on what they were looking for in the character.

But no matter how lovely and how much I liked Jean in the film the MVP crown has to go to Varden. She’s a braying dragon in hideous clothes but whenever she shows up on screen no one else stands a chance. She seems to have come to film late and died just as she was hitting her stride which is a real pity, she was a definite type but within that she was able to play any role handed her (sweet or vicious) memorably.

I agree about women (and often men) reading older in 50’s film, mostly I think due to styling. The New Look which seemed to require women to imprison their hair into a close cropped slicked down circle of tight curls instead of the free-flowing locks of the 40’s aged just about every single star. I remember being shocked when I watched two Barbara Stanwyck films in a row – “The Other Love” and “B.F.’s Daughter” which happened to have been filmed consecutively but in between she had cut her hair short and how it amazingly it aged her seemingly turning her into a matron overnight! The clothing fashions, while often beautifully tailored in exquisite materials, were also much more formal and confining requiring a different posture. The men of course all wore suits (and by and large looked great in them but again older) and unless blessed with super beauty like Guy Madison, Jeffrey Hunter or Rock Hudson their slicked down hair did them no favors.

It was interesting to see Guy Madison in such a different role than his standard, but I am with you about the missed opportunity to show him off to full advantage during his prime, thanks for the reminder of just how prime at the end of the post!!

Having not seen this for years, reading your post has sparked an itch to revisit the melodramatic highs and lows of the film! 😊

Thanks for providing a link to that YouTube print, Poseidon-- I took a quick peek and it looks gorgeous (in HD!) and I'll have to watch later while it's still there.

This is a film that I'm totally unfamiliar with, though I *LOVE* those sudsy '50s "women's pictures," and the cast is particularly appealing. You "already had me at" Jean Simmons, Guy Madison, Judith Evelyn AND Evelyn Varden-- but throw in a pre-ADDAMS FAMILY Blossom Rock? Yep, a must-see!

And as much as I love Evelyn Varden (Monica Breedlove!), I'm embarrassed to admit whenever I see her name in print I immediately briefly think she's *Norma* Varden, who worked in films around the same time and had a longer career. (And bizarrely, Norma Varden's Wikipedia entry erroneously claims Evelyn Varden is her sister-- so I'm not the only one who links them! LOL!)

About those "overly bright" lobby cards-- it's possible that the inks used to print them have faded badly with time and they were originally closer to the look of the film. They were considered ephemera and were actually intended to be destroyed after their original use, though people snagged them anyway. And that little 'A' that follows the title on the ones you post appears to be a film rating that indicates a non-US release, likely in the UK or Canada.

And thanks for balancing the missing "beefcake" element of this film with an always-appreciated selection of shirtless shots of Guy Madison! In the "beach" shot with the two starlets tugging his ears (WTF?), the positioning of his hands makes it look like he's about to shuck his bathing suit down and finally give us a good look at what we've been fantasizing about!

I have to admit I've always wondered if part of being a client of Henry Willson involved taking some "private photos"-- either for his own "personal use" or to help sell his newcomers to certain directors or producers. I guess by now a few of those would've turned up if it had been his preactice.

(However, back in the '80s, a full-page ad ran in a few issues of some of the gay skin mags, which advertised video and 8MM copies of a film that was alleged to have been found in the effects of a deceased Hollywood agent-- which was made up of special "private performances" the aspiring stars were willing to do to get cast.

The agent and stars were unnamed, but the implication was clearly Henry Willson and his stable. And since the ad was so short-lived and no copies seem to have ever turned up, I'm sure the "Film of Films!" was either a compendium of blurry, impossible-to-identify gay stag footage-- or worse, a total rip-off with *nothing* ever sent.)

Anyway, thanks for yet another great post, Poseidon! I hope things keep getting better for you!

Love to all, and be safe and well, everyone!

Rick, thanks for commenting. If you love Jean, I should think you'd be properly entertained by this. And it's under 90-minutes, so it's not exactly a lengthy commitment in any case. Jean sometimes resembled Liz in this movie, I thought. I don't know that I have ever seen "Pinky!" Only read about it. Some day...

joel65913, in some ways I felt Jean seemed a little old for this part (though she really wasn't!), but my God, I can't imagine Susan in it! I did read that she was slated for it. She was coming up on 40! Not to be "ageist." It just seemed as if it were meant that Hilda was a YOUNG girl who'd already had two quickie, failed marriages, not a "woman" who did so. I'm glad you found Varden as captivating as I did. :-) I couldn't agree more about hair during this time. I always think of the helmet Jane Wyman had on. June Allyson... such an unappealing look. If you watched this, I hope you enjoyed it again!

hsc, I have to tell you that I READ about this movie before I actually watched it and I fully expected to see Frau Schmitt, the Von Trapp housekeeper NORMA Varden, come in the door versus Evelyn!!! So you're far from alone. LOL I always thought Norma was a scream in her own right. Did snooty very well. Guy SHOULD have peeled those trunks off - ha ha!! What a cutie he was upon discovery. There are MISLABELED nude photos out there of "Guy Madison" and it's so obviously not he if you're truly familiar with the man. I hate when things like that get spread around as the truth (like a photo of Myrna Loy that's being shopped around as a young Estelle Getty... as if!!) Thanks much!

BryonByron, I have to agree with your interest in the crazed off-screen life of dear Jeanette. So nuts! Sometimes I wonder if some of it is made-up gossip from people who didn't like her or something, but it's fascinating to read. And I can never quit snorting that the always put-together and image-conscious Jeanette was sister to Grandmama Addams!

K Jenkins, amazing isn't it?? But think of Olivia de Havilland at 23 in "GWTH!" And Vivien 26! I always felt that Guy's greatest chemistry was found opposite Rory Calhoun...! LOL If you haven't already, check out this post of mine from 4 years ago:
https://neptsdepths.blogspot.com/2020/04/tinseltales-tubby-togetherness.html

Gingerguy, the exact reason I watched this is that I was in the mood for a "women's picture" in color with attractive stars, clothes, photography, etc...! To no surprise, we often think alike! I hope you watch it and enjoy it! Thanks!