There’s plenty to talk about when it comes to Barbara Stanwyck. First off, there is her inimitable film career. She could do just about anything as an actress. She got her start in screwball comedies, soared as the femme fatale in film noirs and garnered four Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. Eighty-five movies, including starring roles in two of the most famous film noirs Hollywood ever produced, plus a TV career that earned her three Emmys—two for her role in the ABC western The Big Valley (1965-69) and another for her appearance in the enormously popular 1983 mini-series The Thorn Birds.
Read MoreGreta Garbo
Greta Garbo: Her Unique Legacy
Greta Garbo’s film career happened long before the rise of modern American feminism, so for me, she is a sort of proto-feminist, particularly in her choice of roles. She always played complicated, interesting, and powerful women, as we’ll see below. Her body of work merits another look (or in many cases, a first look). If you’ve never seen a Garbo movie, here are the ones from the DVD.com catalog that I recommend you check out. She is utterly compelling, beautiful, and strong in every one of these—and defiantly herself.
Read MoreFilms of the 1920s
Any dip of the toes into the 1920s has to include some of the greatest films and stars of all time. This is the decade which started with silent films, where sound was introduced, and where, by the end of the decade, all the studios were rushing to make movies with sound. There was also a lot of experimentation with multiple images, special effects, camera movement and angles, and more. If you’ve watched movies from the 1910s you will easily notice the field quickly becoming more artistic as well as technically proficient in the 1920s. The Hays Code (censorship) had yet to be introduced, so the artists were not restricted by limitations that were enforced beginning in 1934 and would last into the 1960s.
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