Two days ago I watched Mary Astor, who was the star du jour of that Summer Under the Stars Day, play Marmee in the 1949 version of Little Women. And, as I wrote in the blog post, I enjoyed the film overall, except for one thing – June Allyson as Jo. So I guess this is quite an awkward moment seeing as today we celebrate June Allyson and I was mean to her. And now I am not going to give her justice really because I only watched one film and she plays a character trope I have problems with.
Executive Suite (1954)
Executive Suite is a corporate drama with a human element. The head of a Pennsylvania furniture company dies suddenly when in New York. To complicate things further, he dies pretty much anonymously as his wallet (alongside any identification) is stolen. Several people from the company or around the company try to use the death for their own advantage.
This is an interesting film stylistically (POV shots, black and white cinematography, no music at all) but also, this is a very stylish film – we are talking business topics and business attire. Barbara Stanywck is in this film and she looks phenomenal. So does William Holden who plays the lead.
And here we have to talk about June Allyson… June Allyson plays William Holden’s wife in what is essentially playing the character trope of „wife on an extraordinary (-ish) man”. I am not happy with that being the kind of role I watched her in on her Summer Under the Stars day. And I know I could have picked a different film, but Jo is far from that trope and that did not work either… I’ll leave it at that.
Swingin' at the Seance 