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georgana
Reviews
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
This is one of my favorite Valentino movies
Valentino was in New York when he read in a trade paper that this movies was going to be made. He had already read the book and wanted to play the tango scenes. He had much experience with the Brazilian Tango when he made his living as a "Taxi Dancer" (A dancer that is picked up by a partner and paid for the time he dances with them - like a taxi) in New York. When he came back to Los Angeles to inquire about the tango scene in the movie, he learned that the casting office had been looking for him and already wanted him to play the part of Julio. He was so thrilled! Some people aren't aware that Valentino had come to Los Angeles in the first place because he wanted to work in agriculture. He was tired of taxi dancing and he also had been involved in a scandal in New York that ruined his reputation as a dancer. When he filled out an application to work at Metro studios, the question on the application asked "Why do you want to work in movies?" Valentino wrote the answer "Tired of ballroom dancing." Valentino loved to dance. Many times he kept a dancing job on the side before he was making big money. Then he still danced for fun.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Not one of my favorite movies.
I bought this movie because I want to see as many Joe E. Brown movies as possible. Joe, and other Warner Brother's actors/actresses, didn't want to make this movie because they were not getting paid to act in it. Instead of cash, Joe was allowed to take the afternoon off any time he wanted to go to the races. That was his payment for his participation in the movie. Joe played the flute player. In the version of the video I saw, there was no scene in which he played the flute. Joe also was forced to dress like a woman and play a female part in the play. He did it reluctantly but it horrified him when a critic implied that he was a female impersonator. Joe said "I was shocked, horrified, and embarrassed when I was taken for a female impersonator."
The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
Sal Mineo was great in The Gene Krupa Story
Gene Krupa was before my time but I had heard what a great drummer he was. After watching Sal Mineo play Gene Krupa, I was so impressed that I wanted my husband to see the movie. He also thought Mineo was great in the role. My husband did some checking on the movie and learned that Sal Mineo had spent 2 years with Gene Krupa studying his moves and expressions for the movie. Gene Krupa also played the drums for Mineo during the movie. My husband said he had read that Sal Mineo was a very hard worker for the part he played in the movie. It's a shame that he was murdered in 1976 by a two-bit petty thief that didn't even know who he was.