We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
Added Steve’s John Ireland Video to this page. Our thoughts on the video and John Ireland…found at Steve’s video channel.
“I have not seen too many John Ireland movies….but the ones I have seen I have liked a lot. Favorites would be #2 Red River, #3 Spartacus #9 Gunfight at the OK Corral …though I like Michael Biehn’s Johnny Ringo from Tombstone more. #5 Farewell My Lovely..fun movie…but a very small role for Ireland. I have also seen #1 My Darling Clementine, #4 All The King’s Men….an ok Best Picture Oscar winner. #19 I Saw What You Did….not one of Joan’s finer movies. That is a total of 7 seen…..not too far behind Flora’s total of 13. Voted up and shared.”
Aw what the heck – “if you CAN beat Em join Em!” I have seen 18 Ireland films that I can distinctly remember so my total is probably more than that. Anyway the definite 18 are-
My Darling Clementine
Red River
All the Master’s Men (1949)
Cargo to Capetown (1950) – a follow-up with Brodie**
Whispering Smith
The Good Die Young
Southwest passage -featuring again wife Joanne Dru
Fast and the Furious
Roughshod
Gunfight at Ok Corral
Party Girl
Spartacus
Faces in the Dark
Wild in the country
I Saw what You Did
Villa Rides [Ireland uncredited]
Fall of the Roman Empire
Red Mountain
Hurricane Smith
ADDITIONAL TRIVIA
1/1951’s Red Mountain was a Ladd film but 1952’s Hurricane Smith is not to be confused with Laddie’s 1948 Whispering Smith. John WAS Hurricane smith but Chuck Heston’s 1956 Mrs Moses and real-life lover of Bernie Schwartz [Yvonne DeCarlo] got 1st billing
2/Although Red River and I Saw What you Did are my fave Ireland movies the one scene that I most remember John for [apart from Cherry Valance getting his comeuppance from The Duke in Red River] is in 1958’s Party Girl. In that one villainous John tries to throw acid in the face of The Cowboy of the Century and ends up roasting himself!
**3/The ‘old firm’ of Crawford and Ireland reprised their partnership one last time [I think] in a low grade 1974 TV horror movie The Phantom of Hollywood in which they had supporting roles. For me it was a sad outing because not only had their heyday long gone but they looked tired and they had greatly deteriorated physically, especially Brodie.
4/For a time Brodie was a member of Sinatra’s Rat Pack but was kicked out of it. At a Rat Pack drunken ‘orgy’ Frankie had fallen asleep in a corner from alcohol over-indulgence and for a bet a well-oiled Crawford allegedly crawled across the floor on hands and knees and tried to eat Sinatra’s toupee!
Hey Bob….you providing a John Ireland tally count, actually motivates me to do a Ireland UMR page. 18 is a pretty impressive tally. Good trivia as well. Interesting that Party Girl is the movie that you so closely associate Ireland with. Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE
Like Napoleon himself I like to pick my battles so I don’t give tally counts too much because as often as not, especially regarding the more modern films,I would lose to one or all of you, Flora and Steve!
It would be great if you could produce an Ireland page when you have the time. I always find that a Cogerson page and a Lensman video ideally complement each other – information is pooled and maximized.
NB: You may have picked up Steve’s comment about Ireland being well-liked up in private and on set. By coincidence I was just reading that “your” Archibald Alexander Leach was in his time officially recognised as “the most co-operative actor in Hollywood”.
Hi Bruce, thanks for checking out my John Ireland video, appreciate the vote and share. Your tally 7, Flora 13, mine 10.
Your Ireland video has so many good things in it, particularly in the 3rd section, that a 98% rating is inescapable for me. Best POSTERS – (1) and (2) Fort Utah and Arizona Bushwhackers – two A C Lyles-produced “graveyard” movies – ie ones packed with has-beens at cut price, though John didn’t have as far to fall as some of the other stars in Lyles’ products – he was a great pal of “The Dirty Rat” (3) two for Laddie’s McCarthy era movie Red Mountain.
(4) 1st raunchy one for Roughshod (5) Charlie Bill Stuart in Mr Soft Touch (6) I Saw What You Did (7) FL one for Queen Bee (8) 55 Days at Peking in which John was Chuck’s friend and confidant (9) Raw Deal staring Golden Holden lookalike Dennis O’Keefe (10) Farewell my Lovely (11) FL for Spartacus (12) FL for Red River and (13) FL for My Darling Clementine.
An excellent run of STILLS the best for me being (1) lobby card for Roughshod (2) two with Randy (3) Elvis! (4) I shot Jesse James (5) lucky Ireland romancing my Joan in Queen Bee (6) lobby card for Fall of the Roman Empire (7) All the Master’s Men (8) “Tell Spartacus we ride to the sea!” (9) Cherry Valance and Matthew Garth in Red River [which some critics have dubbed ‘Mutiny on the Bounty Out West” (10) My Darling Clementine and (11) Gunfight at Ok Corral –
WYATT [to menacing mob in saloon] “You may get me but I can take 3 of you with me as I go down – and you get it first Shanghai “[the leader of the mob played by Ted de Corsia]
DOC “And YOU get it 2nd Ringo!” [Ireland, who has been ‘borrowing’ Doc’s woman played by Jo Van Fleet
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating, info, trivia and quotes, much appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
I suppose Gunfight at the OK Corral and Red River are the two films I associate John Ireland with the most.
Ireland is an unusual surname, he must have Irish ancestry surely. But it is rare isn’t it? I’ve never heard of a Jimmy Scotland or a George England, there is an actor named Robert Englund, slightly different spelling.
There are 4 films scoring 10 out of 10 from my sources – Spartacus, All the King’s Men, Red River and My Darling Clementine. Two scored 9 – Fall of the Roman Empire and Raw Deal.
Topping the chart at IMDB is Spartacus and Clementine is no.1 at Rotten Tomatoes.
According to IMDB John Ireland was known as one of the genuine “nice guys” of Hollywood, always eager to meet with his fans, sign autographs and pose for photographs. He was also good friends with Robert Mitchum, they lived in the same neighborhood, maybe it was Mitchum that suggested Ireland for Farewell My Lovely?
HI STEVE Many thanks for the feedback, additional information and interesting trivia. I was particularly intrigued by the stuff about Ireland and Mitchum.
Regarding John’s nice guy persona it is regularly the paradox that stars who play unpleasant characters on the screen as John often did are the nicest of people in real life whereas the supposed “good guys” of Hollywood can actually be the opposite in private.
For example a female secretary who worked on the set of the Road films said that publicly ‘loveable’ Leslie Townes H was a “b*****d to women of relevant unimportance among the cast and crews.
Turning to your comment about Ireland/England/Scotland in connection with the movies-
1/Rowan Atkinson played Johnny English in 3 comedies released in 2003, 2011 and 2018.
2/George Englund who died in 2017 aged 91 directed Mr Mumbles in the 1963’s The Ugly American, was in fact the best friend of Mr M and was Brit Joan Collins lover for a time. In her autobiography Joan fondly recalls the times the 3 of them socialised together and she claimed the Mumbles/Englund duo were “great fun” as a team to be with. Indeed George wrote a special memoir that paid homage to his Mumbling friend. I would like to get a copy of it for onward passage to the estate of Joel Hirschhorn.
NB: Google “George Englund, Wikipedia” and you will see a still of Englund and The Great One working on set together. Take care.
At last! Somebody has profiled John Ireland. Although never having a strong enough personality or sufficiently dynamic acting skills to become a major star I grew up with comfortably watching John in supporting parts and sometimes the lead in unimportant pictures ever since I saw him as Cherry Valance in 1948’s Red River. In short John was a welcome part of the movies tapestry of my youth. Of course the surname of IRELAND was a great bonus that he possessed for me!
John married [1949-1957] Red River’s leading lady Joanne Dru and although never getting any Master or [to date] Work Horse love he nevertheless enjoyed a movie career just short of half a century [1945-1992]. He is possibly best known for 1949’s All The King’s Men but I think I most like him in Red River and 1965’s I Saw What you Did.
The latter was one of my Joan’s late-career horror B flicks and although [as your posters faithfully illustrate]she has star billing in far larger letters than John or anyone else in the film his part is really the lead and if I recall correctly Joan disappears prematurely in the movie, murdered in cold blood by her desired married-lover Ireland [who has actually already murdered his wife but Joan doesn’t know that initially].
I will be checking out Steve’s latest video in a little bit. Hey Bob. Good information on his career and the video.
HI STEVE: Thanks for the feedback including additional information and interesting quotes.
Obviously the Apes franchises are what most people in recent times will most associate with Roddy. However as I’ve said before I grew tired of those productions after the first two big screen movies so I stopped watching them in the cinema and never gave them a look in on TV at all.
Accordingly I most remember Roddy for
1/Guest villain in a 1972 episode of TV’s Columbo called Short Fuse.
2/1973’s big screen movie The Legend of Hell House for which as I have already acknowledged your McDowall video provides two stunning posters.
Please take care and enjoy your weekend.
In his teens and early twenties Roddy McDowall had a run of movies from 1943 until 1950 in which he was the top billed star – My Friend Flicka, Thunderhead Son of Flicka, Lassie Come Home, Rocky, Kidnapped and Killer Shark. He was then largely absent from the big screen during the 50s when he worked on TV and in the theatre and had significant success on the Broadway stage. At the time of his death in 1998 Roddy was said to be worth $5 million which equates to just under $8 million in today’s money.
This is the best entry so far in your new series for my money and worth a 98.5% rating to me. Best POSTERS entries 40-21 (1) IT (2) Class of 1984 (3) The 3rd Day (4) FL one for Battle for Planet of the Apes (5) The Black Hole (6) Dead of Winter (7) 1st one for Holiday in Manchester (8) FL for Conquest Planet of Apes (9) Overboard and (10) Pretty Maids All in a Row.
Best POSTERS 1-20 entries (1) 2 stunners for Legends of Hell House (2) FL for Judge Roy Bean (3) FL for Doris’ Midnight Lace, with Queen Myrna in her usual supporting lower billed role (4) White Cliffs of Dover (5) Son of Fury (6) 1st one for Cleopatra (7) Man Hunt (8) Fright Night (9) MacBruce (10) Greg, young and dashing in his debut year and 2nd movie (11) FL for Longest Day and (12) FL for Chuck’s Planet of Apes.
Best STILLS all entries (1) IT (2) Battle for Planet of Apes (3) Black Hole (4) Lord Love a Duck (5) lobby card Escape Planet of Apes (6) Cleo! (7) Roddy with Lassie (8) Poseidon Adventure (9) lobby card for Fright Night (10) MacBruce (11) Chuck! and (12) “See no Evil, Hear No Evil”
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating and info, always appreciated.
Happy you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Bruce beat me to Roddy McDowall too, he has Planet of the Apes at no.1 on his critics chart, it’s my favorite of Roddy’s films. While my sources made sure How Green Was My Valley was no.1 on my video, I still haven’t seen that one.
Four films scored 10 out of 10 from my sources – Planet of the Apes, How Green Was My Valley, The Longest Day and Lassie Come Home. One scored 9 – Man Hunt. And 10 more scored 8 out of 10.
Planet of the Apes tops IMDB’s chart and How Green Was My Valley no.1 at RT.
“I knew back in Rome when we were making Cleopatra (1963) that it would never work. Elizabeth doesn’t just love someone; she possesses them. And Richard isn’t a man to be possessed. I’m surprised it lasted as long as it did.”
“Certainly the role of Caesar has much more substance than many of the ‘regular’ parts I’ve had in other movies. I’ve enjoyed my roles in all of the films, yet I felt that ‘Conquest of the Planet of the Apes’ was the greatest challenge, as it required more depth and characterization than any of the other performances.”
“…and there’s the challenge of communicating through the appliances – they’re not literally masks. I think that’s why we have had so many fine actors in the pictures – they like the challenge. Masks are in the oldest tradition of the theatre and there is something exciting about reviving an ancient art.”
Good to see the Edit Function back, thanks Bruce (and WoC).
Hey Steve…..broke down and bought a widget….obviously the free one was not going to do the job anymore…..the expenses of this website continue to rise…..but it is still so much better than Hub Pages.
Hey Bob and Steve…..as always….good movie conversation between the two of you. I think McDowall would have gotten an Oscar nomination for Cleopatra….but 20th Century Fox screwed things up for him.
“A clerical error by 20th Century-Fox probably cost Roddy McDowall a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nomination for his performance in this film. The studio erroneously listed him as a leading player rather than a supporting one. When Fox asked the Academy to correct the error, it refused, saying the ballots already were at the printer. Fox then published an open letter in the trade papers, apologizing to McDowall: “We feel that it is important that the industry realize that your electric performance as Octavian in ‘Cleopatra,’ which was unanimously singled out by the critics as one of the best supporting performances by an actor this year, is not eligible for an Academy Award nomination in that category . . . due to a regrettable error on the part of 20th Century-Fox.”
HI BRUCE
Very interesting item about Roddy and Cleo. Thanks for sharing it.
IMDB credits him with just 4 acting awards and 4 nominations, and one of the noms was a supporting Golden Globe for Cleo but here at least is some relatively good news for his fans.
“Roddy McDowall has always been one of Hollywood’s busiest actors, first as a child star, then as a polished supporting actor. He never stole the show but always improved the film.”
[The 1983 Necronomicon of Terror]
Hey Bob….I think the “error” was something that bugged him…..probably his greatest acting performance does not get considered for an Oscar because of a paperwork error. I guess he had to be happy with the Golden Globes not forgetting his performance. Good McDowall quote from The 1983 Necronomicon of Terror. Good stuff.