Linda Darnell | Hollywood Yesterday

Rouben Mamoulian Was BOTD in 1897

October 8, 2022 By Joi

Rouben Mamoulian Film Collage

The wonderful director Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) was BOTD in 1897. While he doesn’t have as many films to his credit as a lot of other directors, the ones he does have are very, very special.

These films include Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Queen Christina (1933), Golden Boy (1939), The Mark of Zorro (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and the colorful, lighthearted, and FUN Silk Stockings (1957).

Some of my favorite Rouben Mamoulian Quotes:

“I consider that color on the screen must be used as an emotion.”

( About Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1931) “I don’t want Hyde to be a monster, Hyde is not evil, he is the primitive, the animal in us, whereas Jekyll is a cultured man, representing the intellect. Hyde is the Neanderthal man and [Fredric March’s] makeup was designed as such.”

“The most important critic is time.”

“You can have all the philosophy you like: if a film doesn’t come across in graphic terms, it falls short.”

Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell in The Mark of Zorro (1940)

August 22, 2022 By Joi

Linda Darnell and Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro

The Mark of Zorro (1940), directed by Rouben Mamoulian, was one of four films Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell made together and many consider it the best of the four. The movie also stars Basil Rathbone and Gale Sondergaard.

It’s difficult to believe, but Linda Darnell was only 16 years old when she made The Mark of Zorro! So much talent for someone so young.

Both stars died entirely too young. Tyrone Power was only 44 when he died from a heart attack and Linda Darnell was only 41 when she died from burns from a house fire. They have each left us wonderful filmographies, including The Mark of Zorro, one of the most popular and entertaining films ever made.

You can find The Mark of Zorro on dvd (Amazon link) or watch the movie on Prime Video.

Linda Darnell and Tyrone Power: The Mark of Zorro (1940)

August 12, 2022 By Joi

Tyrone Power, director Rouben Mamoulian, and Linda Darnell

The Mark of Zorro (1940) was one of four films Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell made together and it deliciously entertaining. Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, the movie also stars Basil Rathbone and Gale Sondergaard.

Tragically, the stars had something else in common… dying far too young. Tyrone Power was only 44 when he died and Linda Darnell was just 41.

You can find The Mark of Zorro on dvd (Amazon link) or watch the movie on Prime Video.

Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, and Linda Darnell: My Darling Clementine (1946)

July 18, 2022 By Joi

Henry Fonda and Victor Mature, My Darling Clementine

The wonderful 1946 Western My Darling Clementine (directed by the legendary John Ford) comes up A LOT in my old Hollywood conversations.

It’s one of my top three favorite westerns.
It’s my favorite Victor Mature role and performance.
It’s one of my favorite Henry Fonda Roles.
It’s my favorite Linda Darnell performance.
It’s one of my favorite John Ford movies – in the top three.

It’s absolutely perfect and I couldn’t possibly love it any more than I do. While Fonda is perfect in the role of Wyatt Earp and Linda Darnell gives the film a lot of heart and soul as Chihuahua, I have to kind of single out Victor Mature for the job he does in bringing Doc Holliday to life. His portrayal is, in my opinion, the best – no actor can touch what he did with the role.

The cast also includes Cathy Downs as Clementine (she makes a lot out of a very small role and leaves you completely understanding Wyatt Earp’s fascination), Ward Bond, Time Holt, Jane Darwell, and Walter Brennan as most of us are unaccustomed to seeing him.. NASTY! He does a great job as a villain, even though it seems odd rooting against him instead of for him.

You can find My Darling Clementine on dvd (Amazon link) or watch the movie on Prime Video.

Linda Darnell and Victor Mature, My Darling Clementine

Linda Darnell and Tyrone Power, Blood and Sand

April 18, 2021 By Joi

Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell

When I first saw Blood and Sand (1941) – many years ago – I did so as a huge fan Rita Hayworth and Tyrone Power. They were two of my favorites, so I was on an obsessive mission to see everything they’d made. When I saw they had a movie together, I couldn’t wait to find it and dive right in.

Funny thing happened, though… I spent the entire movie yelling at her and most of it rolling my eyes at him! I also came away with an actress who then joined Tyrone Power and Rita Hayworth on my list of favorites, Linda Darnell. While I spent the movie hating on THEM, I spent it loving her. All I wanted was for her to slap the redhead and throw him and his wandering eye off a cliff!

If you’ve seen the movie, you know that it was the characters Tyrone and Rita played that brought about such a reaction… certainly not the stars, themselves.

It’s funny, how often does old Hollywood cast beautiful actresses in roles of an “unattractive” sister or plain Jane who can’t hold on to her guy… Olivia de Havilland, in The Strawberry Blonde, for example. She was as beautiful as anyone, yet we were supposed to believe she wouldn’t immediately catch James Cagney’s eye… as if!

Blood and Sand asks A LOT of its viewers when it asks us to accept Linda Darnell as a woman who couldn’t keep her guy from wandering. I mean… come on, look at her!

How did the casting department think, “We need a meek, mild… you know, plain… woman in this role as the one who is cast aside…. hmmm… I know! Linda Darnell!”

Seriously?!

Again. LOOK AT HER!

Linda Darnell, in my opinion (and, remember this is coming from as big a Rita Hayworth fan as you’ll ever find and a darn huge Tyrone Power fan) steals the movie. Her acting is perfection and she creates a character you feel deep empathy for. She’s stunning, in every way, in this film. She is, I’d go on to say, the number one reason to watch the movie. She isn’t on screen as much as the other two stars, but she steals not only their scenes but (as I said) the movie, itself.

You can find Blood and Sand on dvd (Amazon link). I’m kind of surprised it isn’t on Prime Video yet.