Okay, so I didn't get back with you last week like I said; a head cold and laziness will do that to a person. With that out of the way, let's get started...
A week ago today, July 16, 2007 was the 100th anniversary of Barbara Stanwyck's birth. Turner Classic Movies celebrated the day by having a 24-hour tribute to the lady. Alas, her best remembered films such as Double Indemnity and The Lady Eve were not shown. Sadly, I only got to catch one film (luckily, I had seen most of the line-up), These Wilder Years. Made in 1956, it's the only teaming of Stanwyck with James Cagney. Years tells the story of tycoon Steve Bradford (Cagney) who has a dark secret: twenty years before he impregnated a girl and abandoned her, now he wants to know where the boy is (BTW, the boy was adopted, if no one has figured that out yet). He discovers the child was born at The Haven, a home for unwed mothers run by Ann Dempster (our b-day gal). Bradford also develops a bond with a young pregnant girl while fighting Dempster for the right to find the boy.
TCM also aired Baby Face (Stanwyck literally sleeps her way to the top), Sorry, Wrong Number, Annie Oakley, and Meet John Doe. Don't worry, Stanwyck made about ninety films. Watch all of them, she never gave a bad performance.
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