SCFZ poll: Barbara Stanwyck

[MrCarmady]

AKA Ruby Stevens AKA Babs. With a tick under 100 movie credits, chosen by executive decree. I've seen 6 because I suck, so I'm gonna keep this one open for at least two weeks instead of one and try to get a proper list going.

The rules:

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: Monday the 8th of March

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to three days, if someone requests an extension

we'll use the extended rules for this poll:

• if you have seen an odd number of Stanwyck films, you can round up instead of down when determining the length of your ballot (e.g. if you have seen 7, you can list 4 films instead of the usual 3)

• if you have seen more than 10 Stanwyck films, your ballot can extend beyond 5 films (e.g. if you have seen 13, you can list up to 7)
However, the max number allowed in total is 10 even if you've seen 21+.

[MrCarmady]

Forty Guns
Remember the Night
The Lady Eve
---
Double Indemnity

could use a couple of re-watches but it's a start

to watch as many as possible of:
Night Nurse
The Furies
There's Always Tomorrow
Meet John Doe
Ball of Fire
Baby Face
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
+++

[Roscoe]

BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN
DOUBLE INDEMNITY
THE FURIES
BABY FACE
THE MIRACLE WOMAN

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 18. Would love to watch a coupla more, if time & tide permits. Contra many old Hollywood fans, not the greatest of all time in my book, but pretty swell. My votes are meant to be a happy medium between rating the film and rating her performance.

1. Ladies They Talk About (1933)
2. Double Indemnity (1944)
3. Ball of Fire (1941)
4. There’s Always Tomorrow (1956)
5. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
6. Night Nurse (1931)
7. Lady of Burlesque (1943)
8. Stella Dallas (1937)
9. Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
10. Jack Takes Two Cadets to Barbara Stanwyck's (The Jack Benny Program, 1942)

I must say, I could really get into these actorly polls!

[greennui]

15.

Baby Face
Night Nurse
Ladies They Talk About
There’s Always Tomorrow
Ball of Fire
The Bitter Tea of General Yen

#StanTheStanwyck

[brian d]

seen 7

ball of fire
the bitter tea of general yen
double indemnity
the lady eve

[---]

my favourite actress of all-time!!

seen 41

1. Remember the Night
2. The Lady Eve
3. Clash By Night
4. There's Always Tomorrow
5. Christmas in Connecticut
6. Shopworn
7. Double Indemnity
8. Ball of Fire
9. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
10. Titanic

excluded Walk on the Wild Side (not a starring role)

[flip]

1. The Mad Miss Manton
2. The File on Thelma Jordon
3. Remember the Night
4. The Lady Eve
5. Sorry, Wrong Number
6. Cattle Queen of Montana
7. No Man of Her Own
8. The Violent Men
9. Witness to Murder
10. Forty Guns

seen 20

[Umbugbene]

Seen 22

1. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
2. The File on Thelma Jordon
3. Crime of Passion
4. Jeopardy
5. Witness to Murder
6. Christmas in Connecticut

[Silga]

Seen 4:

Sorry, Wrong Number
Executive Suite

[oscarwerner]

Seen 11:
1-Double Indemnity (1944)
2-Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
3-The Lady Eve (1941)
4-Ball of Fire (1941)
5-Forty Guns (1957)

[rischka]

right i've seen 51

the lady eve
double indemnity
remember the night
the file on thelma jordan
the bitter tea of general yen
there's always tomorrow
no man of her own
baby face
the miracle woman
the strange love of martha ivers

if i could list more:
the furies
ball of fire
crime of passion
blowing wild
escape to burma

https://youtu.be/mIchXgvbZU0?t=27

this was how i first became aware of miss stanwyck in afternoon tv reruns. i didn't know then she was a movie star, i just knew she was great

btw she didn't like to be called babs. she was generally called 'missy' or 'stany'

i think i may even have one to watch, not that it'll change my list

[greennui]

One thing I kinda enjoy to do on letterboxd is to scroll through the least popular films in someone's filmography.


The least popular Stanwyck film. She seemingly plays a fiery Cuban woman lol.
https://letterboxd.com/film/a-message-to-garcia/

I'm pretty sure she does that power stance on several Western posters.
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-maverick-queen/

Awkard title.
https://letterboxd.com/film/trooper-hook/

Had to read that movie title a few times in order to make sense of it. Kept seeing 'internet' as well.
https://letterboxd.com/film/internes-cant-take-money/

Kinda sci-fi-y poster.
https://letterboxd.com/film/a-lost-lady/

Banjo on My Knee.
https://letterboxd.com/film/banjo-on-my-knee/

That poster lol, looks nothing like Stanny, more like a grotesque Ida Lupino.
https://letterboxd.com/film/to-please-a-lady/

Looks more like Joan Bennett on the poster.
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-woman-in-red-1935/

Looks like some other actress, Lana Turner?
https://letterboxd.com/film/escape-to-burma/

"Man-Woman Excitement" is mentioned twice. Fred MacMurray plays a guy named "Wes Anderson".
https://letterboxd.com/film/the-moonlighter/

[rischka]

ha! i've seen 'internes can't take money' but i'm still confused about that spelling. 'escape to burma' seems much hated and i confess it's my fondness for the 'plastic jungle on a hollywood backlot' genre that attracts me

[flip]

That poster lol, looks nothing like Stanny, more like a grotesque Ida Lupino.
https://letterboxd.com/film/to-please-a-lady/

i've seen that one. my strong recommendation: avoid. i imagine a lot of people incorrectly parse the plot summary: "Mike Brannon is a former war hero turned midget car racer."

[---]

I'd like to rewatch Banjo on My Knee, i remember finding it charming yet unsophisticated, and suspect i was missing something

[ofrene]

seen 7

Stella Dallas
Remember the Night
There’s Always Tomorrow
Ball of Fire

[wba]

I LOVE her, but I've only seen a measly 9(???) of her films... sorry!!!

The first 3 are utter masterpieces of the highest order!

01. Night Nurse (1931)
02. Baby Face (1932)
03. The Night Walker (1964)
04. Forty Guns (1957)
05. Ball of Fire (1941)

[nrh]

There's Always Tomorrow
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
No Man of Her Own
Ball of Fire
Baby Face
Remember the Night
Cattle Queen of Montana
The Furies

has anyone read the biography? the woman who wrote it introduced the screening of bitter tea i saw years ago and she seemed really thoughtful and smart, but it is over 1,000 pages in its first volume only

also i've posted this before but love this on stanwyck by imogen sara smith http://www.movingimagesource.us/article ... e-20131202

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

has anyone read the biography? the woman who wrote it introduced the screening of bitter tea i saw years ago and she seemed really thoughtful and smart, but it is over 1,000 pages in its first volume only

No, and don't plan to given the length - am I right in recalling that the author was the editor of a publishing firm and this was their passion project? If so, I assume no one was around to really edit the author's ambitions down. I'm a massive old Hollywood fan, but a 1,000 page biography of Barbara Stanywck's whole life is already pushing it for me. A 1,000 pages for her life up to 1940 is simply absurd!

That said, I hope to read Dan Callahan's short book The Miracle Woman soon - my dad (a big Stanwyck fan, and pre-Code fan more generally) really likes it and recommended it to me. It's got some biographical detail, I'm told, but it's mostly a study of the films.

[rischka]

i read volume one of the biography -- someone gifted it to me. i have not had the desire to tackle volume two

her first husband frank fay, blatant nazi, was a bit shocking. their marriage was (many say) the basis for a star is born



fay was very successful in new york, often considered the first 'stand-up' comedian. he was a notorious drunk and wife-beater

he was 16 years her senior but he got her to hollywood and she left him when she skyrocketed to fame. she was one tough cookie, an orphan at age four who grew up backstage, cared for by her showgirl sister. i think her second husband, robert taylor, was more of a boy toy for barbara. i hope she had fun

[greennui]

Also Ayn Rand's biggest fangirl.

[rischka]

sometimes better not to know all the details

[wba]

has anyone read the biography? the woman who wrote it introduced the screening of bitter tea i saw years ago and she seemed really thoughtful and smart, but it is over 1,000 pages in its first volume only

Wow, sounds great! a 1000+ pages FIRST Volume of an autobiography?

[MrCarmady]

Been slacking off on this but did watch There's Always Tomorrow yesterday which made me cry. Gonna keep this open for a while longer for purely selfish reasons but would be great to see some more ballots, seems like both greg and kanafani have been MIA for some time, and I would've expected Lencho and Sally to contribute as well?

Also, get suggestions in for the next poll, I'll keep running them at this uneven, haphazard pace. Maybe someone who did a lot of work in the 60s-80s as we've had people on either side?

I'm gonna put Bardot, Deneuve, Trintignant and Lonsdale in the randomiser if we don't get enough nominations.

[sally]

I would've expected

don't tell rischka, but i don't like barbara stanwyck, so couldn't really contribute to this one

[rischka]

I would've expected

don't tell rischka, but i don't like barbara stanwyck, so couldn't really contribute to this one

hey my eyes aren't that bad yet and i already knew anyways i remember you telling shamus she wasn't the least bit attractive

also i happen to know that you loved 'there's always tomorrow' so not a complete lack of taste on your part

i saw greg here a couple of days ago and i have no doubt he's seen even more stanwyck vehicles than me

for those that don't know, my screen name at mubi was ruby stevens notorious feminazi

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Edited my ballot to include at the bottom an old Jack Benny radio show with Barbara ("Oh, you can call me Babs!") Stanwyck that I just listened to and enjoyed on account of being an alien from the planet of people who enjoy Jack Benny radio shows Not the best use of Babs, but she's clearly having fun.

[RogerTheMovieManiac]

If I'm not too late, I'll put up a list in a little while. She's a big fave of mine (and was one of the very first stars I really latched on to as a young film fan). I've seen 54 of her films.

[Mauries]

Seen only 8, but some of my absolute favorites are among them:

There's Always Tomorrow
Stella Dallas
The Lady Eve
Remember The Night