Classic Cinema Survey!

Amanda over at A Noodle in a Haystack has come out with a new classic film survey. I often don't complete these because I would have really null responses to many of the questions (since I'm relatively new to this world of classic film, there are still quite a few actors/actresses that I'm not familiar with yet.

1. What is your all-time favorite Clark Gable movie? I love It Happened One Night

2. Do you like Joan Crawford best as a comedienne or a drama-queen? I haven't seen any of her comedies yet. Mildred Pierce and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane are two of my favorites!

3. In your opinion, should Ginger Rogers have made more musicals post-Fred Astaire? The musical she did make post-Fred was infamously terrible (Lady in the Dark), so no. I like the way her career went. If she had continued with musicals, they would have been just like the ones with Fred, but without Fred. Just like when they tried to plug other girls in to Fred's movies, it often didn't work. 

4. I promise not to cause you bodily (or any other serious) harm if you don't agree with me on this one. So please be honest: do you like Elizabeth Taylor? Hm? No, but like Kate Gabrielle, it wouldn't detract me from watching a movie like other over dramatic actresses I don't care for (see Susan Hayward).

5. Who is your favorite offscreen Hollywood couple? I found an old hollywood gossip mag last week and loved pouring over the pictures of young Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.  

6. How about onscreen Hollywood couple? Definitely Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, followed closely by Fred and Ginger.

7. Favorite Jean Arthur movie? Mr Smith Goes to Washington. I love the drunk scene.

8. What was the first Gregory Peck movie you saw? To Kill a Mockingbird.

9. What film made you fall in love with Alfred Hitchcock? (And for those of you that say, "I don't like Hitchcock" -- what is wrong with you?!) I have loved The Birds since I was a little girl, but the one that really made me appreciate him was Psycho.

10. What is your favorite book-to-movie adaption? The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

11. Do you prefer Shirley Temple as a little girl or as a teenager? I haven't seen any teenager movies yet.

12. Favorite character actor? oh boy, so many. Jack Carson, Franklin Pangborn, Alice Brady, Phyllis Kennedy, Charles Coburn...I could go on!

13. Favorite Barbara Stanwyck role? Double Indemnity!!!

14. Who is your favorite of Cary Grant's leading ladies? Irene Dunne, followed by Ginger (sure, they only did two movies, but they were great ones!).

15. Bette Davis or Joan Crawford? too difficult to choose.

16. What actors and/or actresses do you think are underrated? Irene Dunne (not necessarily underrated, but forgotten), Lucille Ball (her film career)

17. What actors and/or actresses do you think are overrated? Susan Hayward, definitely. I'm also not an Audrey Hepburn fan.

18. Do you watch movies made pre-1980 exclusively, or do you spice up your viewing-fare with newer films? I'm open to everything, but I will go for an older one over something new when given the choice. Frank Capra once said "The best movies have not yet been made".

19. Is there an actor/actress who you have seen in a film and immediately loved? If so, who? Ginger, Irene Dunne, Simone Simon, Alice Brady

20. Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire? Obviously, Fred. Gene was a cutie, but Fred was so much nicer to his women!

21. Favorite Ginger Rogers drama? Kitty Foyle.

22. If you wrote a screenplay, who would be in your dream cast and what roles would they play? (Mixing actors and actresses from different generations is allowed: any person from any point in their career.) Ginger is a wise-cracking stage performer who is fighting with socialite Katharine Hepburn for the love of playwright Cary Grant. Charles Coburn plays the bumbling theater manager and Jack Carson ends up with whoever doesn't get Cary.

23. Favorite actress? Ginger Rogers.

25. Favorite actor? Cary Grant

26. And now, the last question. What is your favorite movie from each of these genres:

Drama: Mildred Pierce and Casablanca

Romance: Notorious (okay, the romantic parts of it!)

Musical: Swing Time

Comedy: The Awful Truth

Western: no favorite (yet!)

Hitchcock (he has a genre all to himself): Notorious and Sabotage