Kim Novak,(February 13, 1933). It was Kim's modeling career that landed her an uncredited role in the film, The French Line (1953). Later, a talent agent arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures. The studio thought that they found their new, Marilyn Monroe. After taking some acting lessons, Kim performed in her first film with Fred MacMurray in, Pushover (1954). Later that year, Kim performed in the film, Phffft (1954) with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday. These two films set the tone for her career. Her next performance was as "Kay Greylek" in the film, 5 Against the House (1955). It was her next film, Picnic (1955), that made her famous. The film won two Oscars for editing and set decoration. The film Picnic, tells the story of a ex-college football star who turns drifter. He finds himself back in his small home town on Labor Day. Unfortunately, he falls in love with his best friends girl, which complicates their friendship. Directed by Joshua Logan, with William Holden, Kim Novak, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O'Connell, Nick Adams, Betty Field, Rosalind Russell and Verna Felton, the film is sometimes thought of as a "snapshot of life" in the American Midwest during the 1950s. The film won two Academy Awards and was nominated for four more. I thought this film was very passionate story. I loved attitude of the older neighbor who was glad to "hear a man stomp around the house with his boots".
Kim's next film was, The Man with the Golden Arm(1955). A drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a heroin addict, who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world. It stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin. Directed by Otto Preminger. Kim's performance was flawless, but it was was her beauty that was the big hit of the film.
Kim also gave a wonderful performance in Alfred Hitchcock's film, Vertigo (1958) with Jimmy Stewart. The film was one in which Stewart's character, a detective, is hired to follow a suicidal blond. He later finds out that Kim is actually a brunette shop girl who set him up as part of a murder plot. Her next film is another one of my favorite films, Bell Book and Candle (1958).
Kim landed the role of "Mildred Rogers" in the remake of, Of Human Bondage (1964). After filming, The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965). Kim took a break from acting, returning in 1968 to star in what I thought was kind of a weird film, The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968). Again, she took another break from acting, before performing in, The White Buffalo (1977). She followed this up with, Just a Gigolo (1978), where she starred opposite David Bowie. She did find success in the mystery/thriller, The Mirror Crack'd (1980), co-starring Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Angela Lansbury.
She played the lead in the film, The Children (1990), where she starred opposite Ben Kingsley and Karen Black. Kim's last film,(so far) was in, Liebestraum (1991), in which she played a terminally ill woman with a past.
Since 1976, she has been married to Dr. Robert Malloy, who went to medical school with Martin Dinnes, the husband of Kim's friend, Tippi Hedren. She now lives on a ranch in Oregon and is an artist. Kim and her husband raise lamas and horses.
Turned down the female lead in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), The Hustler (1961) and Animal House (1978) among others because she was focusing on her personal life.
She arrived in Hollywood as "The Lavender Girl". When she became a star at Columbia Pictures, the studio had her blond hair tinted with lavender highlights.
Hitchcock, directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema. He is famous for his narrative and withholding crucial information from his characters and from the audience.
One of my favorite Hitchcock films is, Vertigo (1958). Where Stewart plays "Scottie", a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who develops an obsession with a woman he is shadowing (Novak). Scottie's obsession leads to tragedy, and this time Hitchcock does not go for a happy ending. The film clip below shows Hitchcock's cameo in the film.
Vertigo(1958). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. The film was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor, based on a novel by Boileau-Narcejac. At first the film received mixed reviews, but now ranked among the greatest films ever made. Hitchcock's film is about obsession, which means that it's about circling back to the same moment, again and again ...
The story begins in San Francisco, during a police chase across the rooftops, Detective John "Scottie" Ferguson nearly falls to his death. Unfortunately, his partner falls to his death while trying to save him. After which, Scottie decides to retire from police force, but an old friend Gavin Elster, contacts Scottie and wants him to work for him as a private investigator. His job is to follow his friends wife, Madeleine Elster and to learn the mystery of her strange behavior. Scottie follows them to a restaurant so he knows what she looks like.
In my favorite part of the movie, Scottie now on the case follows Madeleine as she visits the grave and the museum portrait of Carlotta Valdes.
Scottie learns that Carlotta Valdes tragic life ended in suicide and that she was Madeleine's great-grandmother. Madeleine next stop is Fort Point, where she jumps into San Francisco Bay. Scottie jumps in after her and takes her to his home to dry off and rest. There Madeleine shares with him what she thinks is living in a bad dream, Scottie believes the location in the dream as Mission San Juan Bautista and takes her there, in hopes to make her feel better..
At the mission, Madeleine panics and runs into the church and up the staircase of the bell tower. Scottie chases after her, but his acrophobia prevents him from climbing the staircase. Scottie hears a scream and sees Madeleine fall from the tower. Her death was declared a suicide and Gavin blamed it on possession by Carlotta Valdes.
Scottie had fallen in love with Madeleine and went into a great depression after her death. As he improves, he begins to visit the places that they had once visited. In his travels, he spots woman who reminds him of Madeleine. Scottie follows her to her hotel room where she tells him that her name is Judy Barton. At first she is angry, but after a few minutes she does agree to join Scottie for dinner. After Scottie has left, we learn of her true identity. She was, in fact, the woman who he knew as "Madeleine". Judy in love with Scottie, decides to hide the truth. Their relationship is troubled by his memory of "Madeleine." He transforms Judy so that she begins to look like "Madeleine."
Scottie becomes suspicious when Judy wears a necklace that he remembered seeing in the portrait of Carlotta Valdes. Scottie takes Madeleine to Mission San Juan Bautista, so he can reenact the tragic event in which he could not save Madeleine. Maybe he has taken his obsession too far.
The wonderful performances of Novak and Stewart make this one of my favorite films. Hitchcock is on the mark for creating hypnotic scenes and a sense of tension which will keep you on the edge of your seat!
The wonderful score of Bernard Herrman is very important in help creating the atmosphere of these scenes.
Fun Facts: When actress Vera Miles, who was under personal contract to Hitchcock and had appeared on both his television show and in his film, The Wrong Man, could not act in Vertigo because of her pregnancy. The director cast Kim Novak as the female lead. Columbia head Harry Cohn agreed to lend Novak to Vertigo, if Stewart would agree to co-star with Novak in Bell, Book and Candle (1958).
Hitchcock said that Vertigo was one of his favorite films. Hitchcock blamed the film's failure on Stewart, at age 50, looking too old to play a convincing love interest for Kim Novak, who at 25 was half his age at the time.
Filming locations:
Filmed from September to December 1957, Vertigo is best known for its location of the San Francisco Bay Area, with its famous steep hills, expansive views, and tall, arching bridges.
The Mission San Juan Bautista, where Madeleine falls from the tower, is a real place, but the tower had to be matted in with a painting using studio effects. Hitchcock had first visited the mission before the tower was torn down due to dry rot, and was reportedly displeased to find it missing when he returned to film his scenes. The original tower was much smaller and less dramatic than the film's version.
The gallery where Carlotta's painting appears is the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
Muir Woods National Monument is in fact represented by Big Basin Redwoods State Park. The redwood tree showing its age is a replica of one that can still be found at Muir Woods.
The coastal region where Scottie and Madeleine first kiss is Cypress Point, a well-known location along the 17 Mile Drive near Pebble Beach. However, the lone tree by which they kiss is in fact a prop brought specially to the location.
The spectacular domed building past which Scottie and Judy walk is the Palace of Fine Arts.
Coit Tower appears in many background shots; Hitchcock once said that he included it as a phallic symbol.
Gavin and Madeleine's apartment building is "The Brocklebank" at 1000 Mason Street, is across the street from the Fairmont Hotel, where Hitchcock stayed when he visited and where many of the cast and crew stayed during filming.
The "McKittrick Hotel" was a privately-owned Victorian mansion from the 1880s at Gough and Eddy Streets, was torn down in 1959.
Podesta Baldocchi is the flower shop Madeleine visits as she is being followed by Scottie. The Podesta Baldocchi flower shop now does business from a location at 410 Harriet Street. It is well-known today as the "World's Oldest Family Owned Florist".
The sanatorium is 351 Buena Vista East, formerly St. Joseph's Hospital, now Park Hill condominiums.
The Empire Hotel is a real place, called the York Hotel, and now (as of January 2009) the Hotel Vertigo at 940 Sutter Street.
Jimmy Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997), was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime Achievement award. He also had a military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Throughout his seven decades in Hollywood, Stewart had a very versatile career and performed in the classics: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story, Harvey, It's a Wonderful Life, Rear Window, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo.
Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933), is best known for her performance in the classic film , Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and has become an artist of oil paintings. She lives with her veterinarian husband on a ranch in, Oregon, where they raise livestock.
Barbara Bel Geddes(October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005), Her film career began with The Long Night (1947), starring Henry Fonda, a remake of the French film, Le Jour se lève (1939). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for, I Remember Mama (1948). She found new opportunity when Alfred Hitchcock cast her in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock cast her again with James Stewart in Vertigo (1958), as the long-suffering bohemian Midge. Bel Geddes also starred with Danny Kaye and Louis Armstrong in the musical, The Five Pennies.
Nineteen other classic movie blogs will post reviews and articles on many Hitchcock films. I 'm really looking forward to a day of wonderful movie reviews about one of my favorite directors. Please join us.
The Birds – Classic Film & TV Café Dial M for Murder – True Classics: The ABCs of Film The Lady Vanishes – MacGuffin Movies Lifeboat – Classicfilmboy’s Movie Paradise The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – Reel Revival Marnie – My Love of Old Hollywood Mr. and Mrs. Smith – Carole & Co. North By Northwest – Bette’s Classic Movie Blog Notorious – Twenty Four Frames The Pleasure Garden – Thrilling Days of Yesteryear Rear Window – Java’s Journey Rebecca – ClassicBecky’s Film and Literary Review Rope – Kevin’s Movie Corner Shadow of a Doubt - Great Entertainers Media Archive The 39 Steps – Garbo Laughs Three Classic Hitchcock Killers – The Lady Eve’s Reel Life Torn Curtain - Via Margutta 51 The Trouble with Harry – Bit Part Actors Vertigo – Noir and Chick Flicks The Wrong Man – The Movie Projector
Pushover (1954). Film noir notable for being the first film to feature Kim Novak in a starring role. The picture also stars Fred MacMurray as a good cop gone bad. It was adapted from two novels, The Night Watch by Thomas Walsh and Rafferty by William S. Ballinger. Other cast members: Philip Carey and Dorothy Malone.
Bank robbers, Harry Wheeler and his partner kill a policeman and pocket $200,000. After the police investigation, headed by Lt. Carl Ekstrom, he knows Wheeler as the man responsible. Eckstrom assigns detective Paul Sheridan to befriend Wheeler's girl friend, Lona McLane. Paul plans a meeting with Lona and they quickly fall in love. Paul takes Lona to his apartment, then spends the next several days with her. Later, Eckstrom, Paul and his partner, Rick McAllister, plan a stakeout across from Lona's apartment, and wait for Wheeler to contact her. They watch as Lona leaves the apartment, Paul follows her, to his apartment. He meets her there and she accuses him of being a cop. Paul admits to being a detective, but tells her that he has been seeing her for personal reasons. Lona tells him that she is frightened of Wheeler and says that she did not know about his criminal activities. Lona asks what would happen to Wheeler if she turned him in and that she and Paul keep the money, he angrily demands she leave. It won't be easy for Paul to get his hands on the money when he's part of the investigation. Soon, he's in much deeper than he wants to be. This story becomes quite exciting as a crooked cop tries to cover his tracks.
This maybe an underrated, little known crime melodrama from the mid-'50s. Fred MacMurray, in another movie where he is an authority figure seduced by the charms of a femme fatale.
Dorothy Malone (born January 30, 1925), in her early years she played mainly in B-movies. best known for her performance in, Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her film career reached its peak in the 1960s, and she achieved later success with her television role of Constance MacKenzie on Peyton Place from 1964 to 1968. Less active in her later years, Malone returned to film in 1992 as the friend of Sharon Stone's character in Basic Instinct.
Philip Carey, performed in the films: I Was a Communist for the FBI (1951), This Woman is Dangerous with Joan Crawford (1952) Calamity Jane with Doris Day (1953), Pushover (1954), The Long Gray Line (1955) and Monster (1979).
TCM is having a Kim Novak five movie tribute, Wednesday September 1st. Kim Novak is best known for her performance in the classic film Vertigo(1958).
Picnic(1955) A young drifter stirs up passions in a small-town Labor Day picnic. Cast: William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell. Dir: Joshua Logan.
Jeanne Eagels(1957) The famed actress fights drug addiction to build a career and find love. Cast: Kim Novak, Jeff Chandler, Agnes Moorehead. Dir: George Sidney.
Pal Joey (1957) film, loosely based from the musical play of the same name. Cast: Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin. Director: George Sidney. Choreographer: Hermes Pan. Sinatra won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Pal Joey also earned four Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.
Night club singer, Joey, is thrown out of town, for being caught with the mayor's underage daughter. When Joey arrives in San Fransisco, he sees a poster of his friend, band leader Ned, at the Barbary Coast Club. When the club's entrainment fails to show, Joey jumps onstage to perform. Later, Ned invites Joey and Linda English, to perform with the band at a charity event sponsored by Vera Simpson. Joey recognizes Vera as a former stripper, and embarrasses her by introducing her on stage. Then has her perform one of her dance routines to raise money for charity. Later that night, Ned and Joey walk Linda to her apartment, there Joey notices a room for rent sign in the window. The next morning, Linda is not happy to hear Joey knocking on her bathroom door.
As time goes on, Joey dates most of the club's girls. Only Gladys and Linda have been immune to his womanizing ways.. Linda tricks him into buying a small dog, named "Snuffy."
Wanting to get even with Joey for embarrassing her, Vera comes to the club. As Joey begins to sing, Vera walks out without paying her bill and Mike fires him. Sure of himself, Joey strikes a deal with Mike, if Joey can convince Vera to return to the club by Saturday, he can keep his job with a raise.. Joey goes to see Vera at her mansion and tells her that he has been fired because of her and intends to leave town. Back at the apartment Linda tells Joey that she will miss him and Snuffy. At closing time that night, Vera walks to the club, Joey sings an insulting song to her. They leave together and drive up to her yacht. There, Joey shares with her his dream to have his own club. When Joey suggests that Vera become his partner in "Chez Joey," they seal the deal with a kiss. In love with Linda, will Joey give up his dream to save his integrity? Pal Joey, is one of my favorite musicals. A wonderful collection of songs and lots of glamorous star power.
Middle of the Night(1959) A widowed businessman courts a younger woman who works for him. Cast: Fredric March, Kim Novak, Lee Grant. Dir: Delbert Mann.
Notorious Landlady,(1962) A junior diplomat in London falls in love with his landlady even though she's a murder suspect. Cast: Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, Fred Astaire. Please click on Kim Novak's name in the tag line located at the bottom of the post, to read movie review.
Good news for Kim Novak Fans! The Kim Novak Collection, will be released August 3rd. Featuring the movies:
Picnic (1955). A story of an ex-college football star turned drifter who shows up in a small Kansas town on Labor Day and falls for a girl who is already spoken for. Cast: William Holden, Kim Novak, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson, Arthur O'Connell, Nick Adams, Betty Field, Rosalind Russell and Verna Felton. It won two Academy Awards and was nominated for four more. Directed by Joshua Logan, Picnic made Novak a star.
Jeanne Eagels (also title The Jeanne Eagels story) is a 1957 fictionalized biographical film of the life of stage star Jeanne Eagels, made by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by George Sidney from a screenplay by John Fante, Daniel Fuchs and Sonya Levien, based on a story by Fuchs. The film stars Kim Novak and Jeff Chandler with Charles Drake, Agnes Moorehead, Larry Gates, Virginia Grey, Gene Lockhart and Murray Hamilton.
Bell, Book and Candle (1958) is a romantic comedy directed by Richard Quine based on the hit Broadway play by John Van Druten. Cast: James Stewart and Kim Novak in their second on-screen pairing (after the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo, released earlier the same year). Fans of the film point to similarities between it and the earlier I Married A Witch (1942) and especially the 1960s television series Bewitched, thinking that this film may have been an inspiration.
Middle of the Night(1959). A film about a 56-year-old clothing manufacturer (March) falls in love with 24-year-old Novak, much to the dismay of both families. Future Oscar winners Martin Balsam (A Thousand Clowns, 1965) and Lee Grant (Shampoo, 1975) also star in this film.
Pal Joey (1957). loosely adapted from the musical play of the same name; it stars Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak. Kim Novak's singing voice was dubbed by Trudy Erwin. The director is George Sidney and the choreographer is Hermes Pan. Considered by many critics as the definitive Frank Sinatra vehicle, Sinatra won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role as the wise-cracking, Joey Evans. As to be expected the musical arrangements are particularly fine, with some near-perfect Nelson Riddle charts for the Rodgers and Hart standards "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I Could Write a Book" and "There's A Small Hotel." Pal Joey is also one of Frank Sinatra's few post-From Here to Eternity movies in which he did not receive top-billing, Sinatra deciding himself to allow Rita Hayworth this honor stating, with regards to being billed "between" Hayworth and Novak, "That's a sandwich I don't mind being stuck in the middle of." Along with being a strong box office success, Pal Joey also earned four Academy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations.
