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| James Mason |
This week Great Old Movies looks at one of our favorite actors: James Mason. When I was a youth Mason starred in two of my favorite movies, Hitchcock's North By Northwest and Journey to the Center of the Earth. As the years went by I could appreciate Mason as much for his acting ability as for the films he appeared in, although even as a kid I could tell he was good.
As I have already seen and/or reviewed a great many of Mason's films, I decided this week to look at a few oldies that I had never watched before. Alas, I was to discover that poor James Mason made quite a few lousy movies, especially in the earlier days of his career. However, Mason himself was rarely less than stellar. Mason gave especially fine performances in such films as Child's Play; Lolita (in which he was, as was often the case, much better than the material); 5 Fingers; The Wicked Lady; and many, many others. You can read a review of a biography of him here.
As I said, Mason made more than his share of stinkers, a few of which are reviewed this week. But it's fun to read about stinkers, isn't it? (Better than watching them, I suppose.)
In any case, James Mason was no stinker.
He was one of The Greats!
Hi Bill, you are so right! Mason was truly wonderful.
ReplyDeleteMy favorites are A Star is Born (just watched it again last week, wow, he really more than holds his own opposite Garland!!; of course Lolita; but also later roles like in Evil Under the Sun and of course, as Mr. Jordan in Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait.
Most of all, I loved his elegant voice!
-C
Yes, he had one of the most distinctive voices in the movies. He was especially good at registering contempt for his opponents while being sardonic.
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