comment #1

vp19 says ...

If Robert Taylor is remembered at all these days, it's for being one of Barbara Stanwyck's husbands. I agree his appeal hasn't carried through generations; I certainly never got it.

I'm trying to think of a female equivalent to Taylor, an actress who was a much bigger star at the time than in retrospect -- and whose style was sufficiently anonymous to preclude a posthumous re-evaluation (a la Norma Shearer, thanks to Mick La Salle). I'm initially tempted to say Constance Bennett, but the two "Topper" films she made, as well as "What Price Hollywood?", give her a lasting cinematic legacy. So does anyone come to mind?

comment #2

TVMCCA says ...

One has to give Taylor credit for a good, cynicism-laced performance in Nicholas Ray's PARTY GIRL.

comment #3

thatmovieguy says ...

Taylor's acting improved somewhat in later years; he was rarely much more than a starchy matinee idol in his pre-WWII films. Interesting life: He was said to be utterly dominated by his mother, which caused difficulties in his marriage to Stanwyck. QUO VADIS marked the breaking point of his relationship with Stanwyck, in fact. He went to Italy to shoot the film while she stayed behind to work on her own projects. On the set, Taylor is said to have hooked up with a luscious starlet, a liaison that did not escape the gossip columnists. Alarmed by the rumors, Stanwyck rushed to Rome, but the damage was done. They would divorce soon afterward.

As for a big female star of that time who has no real following these days, may I suggest June Allyson? She landed many lead roles and wasn't a bad actress, but her speciality was the smiling, supportive love interest, which wasn't generally very interesting.

comment #4

btwnproductions says ...

I was never a big Taylor fan, but the more of his films I catch up with the more I understand why MGM kept him under contract for a record-breaking length of time (28 years, I think): PARTY GIRL, THE LAW AND JAKE WADE, SADDLE THE WIND, THE LAST HUNT, ROGUE COP, IVANHOE, and DEVIL'S DOORWAY (as a renegade Indian, which he pulls off) benefit from his latter-day stolidity, and he was a good match for whatever leading lady was thrown at him, from Greta Garbo to Lana Turner. He may not speak to us in our time, but he holds his own in his own.

I doubt QUO VADIS? is anyone's favorite historical epic, but its massive size and the things it does right makes it of more than passing interest.

comment #5

George Prager says ...

Robert Taylor was Ronald Reagan's only close personal friend in Hollywood.
QUO VADIS was one of those movies that the" 4:30 movie" would show over a week long period.

comment #6

Che sucks says ...

Trying to squeeze more out of the leftover sets and costumes from QUO VADIS motivated MGM to greenlight Mankiewicz's JULIUS CAESAR. So it has that going for it. Which is nice.

Taylor was often bland, but I echo the sentiments about PARTY GIRL, an underrated (albeit flawed) Nicholas Ray film. When is WHV going to make this available on dvd? Sadly, we'll probably see a third incarnation of QUO VADIS on dvd ('The Totally Toga Super-Duper Edition') before this occurs.

comment #7

dixiedugan says ...

Well...Robert Taylor was a product of the studio system, so perhaps his acting talents were hidden in whatever role he was assigned. I can see where he might not inspire anyone to really sit down and watch his movies, unless there's someone co-starring that one has a yen for but I don't think you can discount him altogether. He's very good in Camille, the original Magnificent Obsession, Lucky Night, Johnny Eager, and two of my personal faves Small Town Girl and Westward The Women.

Needless to say, my copy of Quo Vadis has been on pre-order for quite a while.

comment #8

nemo says ...

:Is there any big-time star of the old studio system of the '30s, '40s and '50s who matters less to anything or anyone right now than Taylor? Just as some old-time actors have a vitality and an edge that transcends time and fashion and gives them a kind of perennial status, actors like Taylor bring only stodginess and antiquation to the table ..."

I would have agreed with you completely if I had never seen Taylor in The Last Hunt, a harsh tough-minded 1956 Western (costarring Stewart Granger, directed by Richard Brooks, who went on to direct The Professionals).

The lead is exactly the kind of sociopathic role that was tailor-made for Robert Ryan in the 50s. But Robert Taylor, of all people, that 1930s pretty boy, was just as powerful in that role as Ryan would have been. And I'm speaking as someone who yields to no man in his admiration for Robert Ryan.

Of course, the difference is that Taylor only managed to hit the ball out of the park occasionally. Robert Ryan scored almost every time, which is why Ryan is one of those old-time actors who have a vitality and an edge that transcends time and fashion.

comment #9

gruver1 says ...

I've never seen The Last Hunt. But now it's on my list.

comment #10

dixiedugan says ...

I share your love for Ryan there Nemo. One of the best ever, bar none no exceptions.

I'll have to watch for The Last Hunt as well...perhaps with next year being a landmark birthday celebration for MGM I'm sure it'll show up on TCM soon.

comment #11

vp19 says ...

As for a big female star of that time who has no real following these days, may I suggest June Allyson? She landed many lead roles and wasn't a bad actress, but her speciality was the smiling, supportive love interest, which wasn't generally very interesting.

She's definitely a contender, though I wonder whether she was a prisoner of her era. Myrna Loy played the love interest many times too, but most of them came before the domesticated, suburbanized postwar era, when actresses' roles became decidedly less interesting. (I'm certainly not saying Allyson was as good as, or better than, Loy.) And whoever had the ridiculous idea that Allyson could fill Carole Lombard's gigantic shoes in a 1957 Technicolor remake of "My Man Godfrey"?

comment #12

Cadavra says ...

Ryan is the epitome of the actor whom everyone seems to take for granted, because he's always great and always makes it appear effortless. Even as late as 1971, he's spectacular in LAWMAN (one of Michael Winner's few really good films) as a sheriff who's too cowardly to stand up to Burt Lancaster--and damn well knows it. I'd love to see a retrospective of his work somewhere sometime, if only to bring him the greater attention he so richly merits.

comment #13

Rosebudsthesled says ...

Robert Taylor is pretty meaningless in this day and age...I would say Van Johnson is probably up there too.

comment #14

raskimono says ...

Taylor is also very good in Johnny Eager and Waterloo Bridge with Vivien Leigh. They are directed by Wells favorite director, Mervyn Leroy. He also came close to getting an Oscar nomination for D-Day the 6th of June and Above and Beyond. Most reviews back then touted him for the nomination. He is also good in Bataan and absolutely excellent in Westward the Women!, a movie begging to be remade.

comment #15

Doug Pratt says ...

Taylor is terrific in Bataan.which is a great movie

comment #16

lipranzer says ...

Although Taylor didn't make an impression on me in IVANHOE, the BROADWAY MELODY movies he appeared in, or CAMILLE, I never really took any measure of him one way or another (his off-screen activities, of course, are another story). The one whose appeal I never understood was Tyrone Power. One of the reasons why I prefer the remake of THE RAZOR'S EDGE to the original was Bill Murray at least convinced you he was capable of being introspective. Power did not convince me at all. June Allyson is another one I never understood (and the MY MAN GODFREY remake was bad enough, but how about her trying to fill Katharine Hepburn's shoes in the LITTLE WOMEN remake?).

And here's another Robert Ryan fan. I remember going through a number of his films just by happenstance - CAUGHT, CLASH BY NIGHT, THE NAKED SPUR, BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, ACT OF VIOLENCE, and some others I can't remember - and being impressed by the variety of his performances.

comment #17

moviemaniac2002 says ...

I always thought of Taylor and Tyrone Power as
studio-bred journeymen, clockpunchers who
got better at their jobs...just from steady
repitition. And every once and awhile, given the
right role, script, and director...yes, they could
shine. (I love Powers' work as the weasel defendent in "Witness For The Prosecution")
Robert Ryan...another story altogether...a
truly gifted actor who put his indelible stamp on
every role. His innate dignity and quiet righteousness could be flipped from good (his
horsemaster in "The Professionals" to evil (his
small town psychotic kingpin in "Bad Day At Black Rock") For a master class in classic Hollywood acting, watch the verbal duel between Ryan and
Spencer Tracy in "Black Rock". Amazing.

comment #18

Che sucks says ...

Hold on with the Tyrone Power-bashing, people. Power had way more charisma and charm in his performances than Robert Taylor. Taylor swashbuckler-esque flicks like IVANHOE or KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE are lumbering bores, while Power vehicles such as THE BLACK SWAN, MARK OF ZORRO, or SON OF FURY remain entertaining ditties. Of course he had limitations, put Taylor never came close to doing something like Power did in the excellent NIGHTMARE ALLEY.

I strongly recommend the chapter on Power in Jeanine Basinger's recent book THE STAR MACHINE.

comment #19

bryce_david says ...

I don't understand why people knock this film. Yes, it's corny but most films of those days were corny to a certain extent. I'm a Peplum fan and it's definitely on my list of must see. I admit that Taylor is not my favorite actor but he had amazing chemistry Garbo in Camille, which is no mean feat as most men cast alongside Garbo usually faded in the background when working with her.

comment #20

vp19 says ...

Another actor who sort of belongs in this group is Franchot Tone. He was a good actor, mind you, but he seemed to be at his best as a complement to the film's main star, be it male or female. (Fred MacMurray had much the same appeal working with Lombard, Stanwyck or Claudette Colbert, though he tended to project a slightly stronger personality.)

comment #21

T. S. Idiot says ...

Don't care for Taylor either, but he is good in Waterloo Bridge and, especially, The Last Hunt. The final image of him is one of the most indelible of my childhood moviegoing, but that's Brooks' doing.

In addition to the numbingly uninteresting Van Johnson, with that annoying voice, I would add George Brent, Pat O'Brien, Edmond O'Brien, and Walter Pidgeon.

comment #22

Cadavra says ...

Edmond O'Brien? You cannot be serious. Had he done nothing else but LIBERTY VALANCE and THE WILD BUNCH, he'd be in the Hall of Fame, but his fine work in countless crime dramas like TWO OF A KIND and 711 OCEAN DRIVE can't be ignored.

And Pat O'Brien might've been one-note, but it was a terrific note, especially when paired with Cagney.

comment #23

vp19 says ...

And Pat O'Brien might've been one-note, but it was a terrific note, especially when paired with Cagney.

O'Brien was indeed good in that one note, but he lacked Cagney's complexity and texture. Last week, TCM carried Carole Lombard and O'Brien in "Virtue" (1932) which was sort of Columbia's approach to an urban Warners film. It's okay, and Lombard has some nice moments of pre-Code toughness -- but this film was made a few months after she'd rejected a loanout from Paramount to Warners, deeming it a demotion of sorts, to co-star with Cagney in the similarly themed "Taxi!" Loretta Young got the part instead, and while she's good, Cagney might have drawn something out in Carole two years before John Barrymore did just that in "Twentieth Century." Lombard supposedly regretted the rejection for years.

comment #24

T. S. Idiot says ...

Have seen DOA and 711 OCEAN DRIVE lately and kept missing someone else was the star. EO'B just keeps hitting the same two or three notes. He's in several good films but is quite limited.

comment #25

dixiedugan says ...

Damn it, Two of a Kind was on the other day and I missed it for one reason or another. As an E O'B fangal I'd like to offer up Seven Days in May and The Hitch-Hiker. He's like Paul Douglas, great character actor.

Never warmed up to Van Johnson...I only found him capable in State of the Union and maybe Battleground. I would say a lot of that was on the shoulder of the directors and the material however.

comment #26

T. S. Idiot says ...

Never cared for Paul Douglas either, except for It Happens Every Spring.

comment #27

dd says ...

Damn it, Two of a Kind was on the other day and I missed it for one reason or another. As an E O'B fangal I'd like to offer up Seven Days in May and The Hitch-Hiker. He's like Paul Douglas, great character actor.

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comment #28

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