Oct 202017
  October 20, 2017

StanwyckBarbaraWhen I was a child in the ‘60s, Stanwyck was known primarily as a television Western star. But time is not kind to TV shows in general and particularly not to Westerns, so that work is fading from cultural memory, which is for the best in this case as she should be remembered first as a film actress.

Stanwyck rarely played the damsel or proper doting wife. Her roles were of tough women, often from harsh backgrounds, making their own way. They could be heroes, but were often morally complex, and she had her share of steely villains.

An honorable mention goes to Meet John Doe (1941). It is certainly the best of Frank Capra’s social/political morality trilogy (the others being Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Stanwyck is excellent in it, but like its two cousins, it is too preachy and far too saccharine.

My top 8 films of Barbara Stanwyck:

#8 – The Mad Miss Manton (1938) — The first of her three films with Henry Fonda and one of two on this list, it puts Stanwyck in one of her rare silver spoon roles. She’s a rich young woman who comes upon a murder and no one believes her. She’s stared in moves that took this same premise seriously years later.

#7 – Baby Face (1933) — I’m not sure this movie would be as much fun if made now as it is the taboo nature of it that’s such a riot. The story is of a woman, sold as a prostitute by her father since she was 14, sleeping her way to the top. It was way ahead of its time on racial and gender issues. It loses a bit from a tacked on ending—and I’m only talking about the pre-release version. This is one of the films that got the production code going and the theatrical version is a mess, with most of the sex gone and changes to the philosophy. Luckily, the pre-release version is available now.

#6 – Ball of Fire (1941) — A screwball comedy normally in the shadow of her more famous one (coming further up the list), this one stars Cary Cooper as a hopelessly naïve professor researching slang and Stanwyck as a showgirl in need of a place to hide.

#5 – Remember the Night (1940) — A romance, and perhaps even a weepie, with some comic touches, filmed like a Noir, and set at Christmas, this is an unusual film. Stanwyck is a shoplifter and Fred MacMurray is the prosecutor who takes her home for the holiday.

#4 – The Lady Eve (1941) — Her best known comedy, Stanwyck is a conwoman and Henry Fonda is her hopelessly naïve target.

#3 – The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) — A Film Noir with a good dose of the gothic, it has Stanwyck at her most steely. If you are looking for the worst in humanity, here’s the place to look. It was Kirk Douglas’s first role and he’s as good as she is, and she’s fantastic. (Full Review)

#2 – Christmas in Connecticut (1945) — A delight in every way (and as far from the two films surrounding it on this list as you can get), this film has been an Xmas tradition for me for fifty years. Romantic, funny and joyful.

#1 – Double Indemnity (1944) — The quintessential Film Noir. In a meaningless world, two jaded people, one a sleazy insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray), the other a sociopathic trophy wife, decide to commit murder. It’s brilliant. (Full Review) [Also on the Edward G. Robinson list]

 

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