Comments | dr_hermes: Flash your bulbs at Whataman MacMurray

dr_hermes

Flash your bulbs at Whataman MacMurray

Jan 01, 2011 16:11

This ad from a 1944 magazine. I have a pessimistic feeling there may be more entertainment in this ad than in the movie, especially if you're waiting to see Claudette Colbert "flash her bulb" at anyone.

It is odd to see bland, mild Fred MacMurray (THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR and MY THREE SONS)presented as a roughneck hunk...!

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obscure movies

Comments 4

docsavage181 January 3 2011, 14:58:59 UTC

I was shocked to see MacMurray as a bad guy (Double Indemnity, The Caine Mutiny) in some of his pre-"Sons" films. Quite a contrast.

Did you know this about MacMurray's participation in "My Three Sons" (from Wikipedia):
"Each season's episodes were arranged so that main actor Fred MacMurray could film all of his scenes during two separate intensive blocks of filming for a total of 65 working days on the set; ... the other actors worked around the absent MacMurray for the remainder of the year's production schedule."

dr_hermes January 5 2011, 01:40:32 UTC

I had heard something like that a long time ago, that MacMurray shot all his scenes at his convenience and the rest of the cast worked around that. It must have been an odd feeling. But then actors do a lot of their work out of sequence. All the scenes featuring a particular set or make-up are shot at once, for example. Sometimes I imagine actors get hopelessly lost and frankly in a lot of movies, it's easy to believe.

michael_ocd January 6 2011, 04:34:42 UTC

I love Claudette -- especially in "It Happened One Night" when she's changing into Gable's spare jammies at the auto lodge, and I swear that little sheer top she's wearing gives us a nice, nearly clear view of what's underneath.

And what about Cleopatra, and that near "bath" malfunction, eh?

You gotta love a gal who keeps the censors on their toes.

dr_hermes January 6 2011, 09:39:29 UTC

I think that was just about when the Hays Office came into effect and cracked down. You can really see a difference in movies before and after the Code... Maureen O'Sullivan going from being barely covered and then into a Mother Hubbard in the Tarzan movies, for example. Horror and action films also got toned down overnight.