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Post by Teleadm on Aug 2, 2024 20:11:13 GMT
Not a looker by any means, but no matter if he was surrounded by beautiful women or handsome men, our eyes was drawned towards him, to see what he was doing. He had a nearly 30 year long movie career, usually playing larger than life characters but just as able to play other characters too if given the chance. His sole movie as director has become a classic. This year we celebrate his 125 birthdate in Scarborough England. Charles Laughton (1899-1962)
He has been described as the little boy with a new toy who always has to test how much it can take before breaking. A good to great director could handle him, a lesser director and he chews up the scenery. He was married to the Bride of Frankenstein since 1929 until his untimely death. Even recorded a duet with her. He made his London stage debut in Gogol's The Government Inspector (1926). He appeared in many West End plays in the following few years and his earliest successes on the stage were as Hercule Poirot in Alibi (1928). First best known movie was The Old Dark House 1932. With a young Cary Grant in Devil and the Deep 1932. As a childish Nero in Cecil B. DeMille's Sign of the Cross 1932. Dr Moreau in Island of Lost Souls 1932 Winning the Oscar for The Private Life of Henry VIII 1933 The Barretts of Wimpole Street 1934 Showing comedy skills as as out of place butler in the Wild West, Ruggles of Red Gap 1935 As Javert in Les Miserables 1935. As Captain Blight in Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 Back in Britain he played artist Rembrandt in a bio nobody remembers 1936. Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn 1939 Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939 With Carole Lombard in They Knew What They Wanted 1940 It Started with Eve 1941 This Land is Mine 1943 The not so scary ghost of Canterville 1944 The Suspect 1944 was a gem. The Big Clock 1949 During the 50's he recorded several spoken words 10 inch albums Could have been a nadir but he played along Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd 1952 and he apparently enjoyed the experience. Returned to Britain for Hobson's Choice 1954 directed by David Lean. Sadly his only venture into directing a movie, Night of the Hunter 1955. On Broadway he actually directed successful versions of Don Juan in Hell by Shaw and The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. So directing didn't come out of nowhere. Witness for the Prosecution 1957 with wife Elsa. Spartacus 1960 Guest star on Wagon Train 1960 TV-series. Screen farewell came with Advise & Consent 1962 The above is not complete. A semi-rehearsed bonus... "They can't censor the gleam in my eye." Thanks for watching! Opinions of all kinds are as usual welcome!
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Post by jervistetch on Aug 3, 2024 0:24:06 GMT
I so much enjoyed this, Tele. Thank you. There’s so much for me to see.
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Post by politicidal1 on Aug 3, 2024 1:51:19 GMT
"....His sole movie as director has become a classic."
And one of my very favorite movies. What his career as a director could had been is one of the great 'what-ifs' in movie history.
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Post by petrolino on Aug 3, 2024 1:58:32 GMT
Thanks for this stirring tribute to the great Charles Laughton, I'll be on the lookout for some of these movies. He's awesome.
Here he is with Jean Renoir who directed him during difficult times in 'This Land Is Mine' ...
A Yorkshireman born like James Mason, Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley and so many fine English actors.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 3, 2024 2:14:23 GMT
Thanks for this welcome piece on Laughton. Of those you've listed, I've missed only Hobson's Choice and This Land is Mine.
He was apparently quite the character offscreen as well as on. In his collection of personal reminiscences, titled Hollywood, Garson Kanin had stories to tell about directing Laughton in They Knew What They Wanted. Preferring to keep an informal atmosphere on set, Kanin one day addressed him as Chuck. Laughton bristled: "Chuck?!" Kanin said, "Oh, sorry, it's our familiar for Charles." Laughton replied, "I don't mind the 'Chuck' so much; I mind your getting familiar."
Before the start of production, Kanin asked Laughton if he'd care to have a dialogue coach to help with his Italian accent. Laughton told him, "Dear boy, I shall create it organically. For the next week, I shall study the paintings of Caravaggio, read only Dante and listen to only Vivaldi." Laughton showed up on set the next week with the most obvious burlesque of an Italian accent: "'Allo-a. My-a name-a Tony-a Patucci." At the end of the day's work, Laughton quietly pulled Kanin aside and said, "Please send that dialogue coach to me." After the film's release, an interviewer asked him how he'd created such an accurate accent. Laughton told him, "Until the start of production, I studied the paintings of Caravaggio, read only Dante and listened to only Vivaldi."
At the end of a day's work on their Napa location, Laughton expressed concerns to Kanin about a scene scheduled for the following morning, and insisted the director take a walk with him until he found the key to the scene. They walked to an adjacent vineyard and when Kanin started to offer suggestions, Laughton sushed him. "Please, don't speak, dear boy. I'm thinking." So, they walked in silence, up one row, down another and so forth, until Laughton stopped in his tracks and shouted, "That's IT! I've FOUND it!"
At around midnight, Kanin was awakened in his hotel room by the phone. It was Laughton. "I've lost it." Kanin groggily asked, "Charles? Lost what?" Laughton wailed, "The key to the scene! What I found in the vineyard. I've lost it. We have to go back and find it again." Kanin said, "Please try to be calm, Charles. We can talk about it in the morning, but I don't think there will be time to go back to the..." Laughton cut him off. "Not in the morning. NOW! I won't be able to sleep until I've found it again." Dreading the answer, Kanin asked, "In the vineyard? Tonight? Now?" "Yes! Yes! Please, dear boy, meet me in the lobby," Laughton entreated. So, they went back to the vineyard in the dark of night, up one row, down another, with Laughton occasionally muttering, "No, it's not here...no, not there," until he again stopped and shouted, "I've found it!"
The next day, sleep-deprived Kanin kept dozing off during takes, having to be nudged by his AD to call, "OK, cut it," and asking confidentially, "Any good? Should we print it or do another?" If the assistant said, "It looked fine, Gar," Kanin was satisfied. And when he saw the dailies later, he was happy, and Laughton was happy.
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Post by PaulsLaugh on Aug 3, 2024 4:13:32 GMT
Scene from the unfinished I, Claudius
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Post by mikef6 on Aug 3, 2024 4:36:24 GMT
Teleadm "Back in Britain he played artist Rembrandt in a bio nobody remembers 1936." I remember it. I saw it in 2015. It was directed by Alexander Korda who keeps things lively even though the movie traces the Dutch painter's life beginning at the height of his fame and wealth to the lessening of his fortunes during the last period of his life. It is a recommended bio-pic even if the details of his life is somewhat fictionalized.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 3, 2024 6:16:23 GMT
Teleadm "Back in Britain he played artist Rembrandt in a bio nobody remembers 1936." I remember it. I saw it in 2015. It was directed by Alexander Korda who keeps things lively even though the movie traces the Dutch painter's life beginning at the height of his fame and wealth to the lessening of his fortunes during the last period of his life. It is a recommended bio-pic even if the details of his life is somewhat fictionalized. I quite enjoyed it and found it engaging, drawing me in with admirable cinematic and thespian artistry. Of course, fictionalization is to be expected to varying degrees in bio-pics, regardless of on which side of the pond they originate. For those looking for the straight dope, as they used to say, there are always books. But from films, we first want entertainment, right? Compelling, emotionally involving drama. Things both Korda and Laughton knew how to deliver. And although no slouch in any context, Lanchester's work in it was among that which I judge to be some of her best.
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Post by timshelboy on Aug 3, 2024 10:22:19 GMT
Another fine appreciation Tele
Hard pushed to pick a favourite but HOBSONS CHOICE and ADVISE AND CONSENT are up there. I liked JAMAICA INN a lot too - a bit neglected imho.
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Post by marianne48 on Aug 3, 2024 11:09:20 GMT
Laughton was a big admirer of Lou Costello and longed to work with him in a slapstick comedy, so what seemed like a low point in his career was actually a dream come true for him.
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Post by spiderwort on Aug 3, 2024 13:12:52 GMT
Thanks for the great tribute, Tele. What a wonderful actor Laughton was. He gave so many wonderful, even great performances in his long career. And even in the films that weren't so good, he was always the actor you couldn't take your eyes off of.
That said, oh, lord, I do wish he had continued to direct!
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Post by Captain Spencer on Aug 3, 2024 14:02:35 GMT
His likeness was used in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Roman Legion-Hare.
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Post by Teleadm on Aug 3, 2024 14:50:45 GMT
Teleadm "Back in Britain he played artist Rembrandt in a bio nobody remembers 1936." I remember it. I saw it in 2015. It was directed by Alexander Korda who keeps things lively even though the movie traces the Dutch painter's life beginning at the height of his fame and wealth to the lessening of his fortunes during the last period of his life. It is a recommended bio-pic even if the details of his life is somewhat fictionalized. A bit of a clarification... An old man gave me suggestion once, what critics thought about movies is printed and will always be around (this was before Internet) ask instead what the so called "common" people thought and get a feeling what the the people thought. I took that advice seeing a bench of old women and asked them if they liked to talk about movies when they where young, and they actually did. I went through a lot of old movies and it's stars. They hated Shirley Temple since it pushed so much pressure on little girls from parents. They didn't like Laughton since he was nasty to Clark Gable, Hunchback was a boy's movie, Rembrandt they couldn't even remember.
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Post by Teleadm on Aug 3, 2024 14:58:38 GMT
Laughton was a big admirer of Lou Costello and longed to work with him in a slapstick comedy, so what seemed like a low point in his career was actually a dream come true for him. One of the stories are that while such a movie was planned, nobody had thought of asking Laughton to participate and that it was a late call to get the actual Laughton, since the part was unfilled. Could be a tall tale too.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Aug 3, 2024 19:39:04 GMT
Another fine appreciation Tele Hard pushed to pick a favourite but HOBSONS CHOICE and ADVISE AND CONSENT are up there. I liked JAMAICA INN a lot too - a bit neglected imho. I'd venture that Hitchcock himself was as responsible as anyone for Jamaica Inn's neglect and poor reputation. Whenever it was raised as a topic of discussion, he'd generally find fault with it and talk it down. When I finally got around to seeing it for the first time (complete with low expectations), I was more than pleasantly surprised, and have revisited it two or three times in the years since.
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