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I just got my copy of the Criterion Collection’s two DVD set of Magnificent Obsession, containing both the 1935 and 1954 versions. I had watched the Taylor version previously on the internet and the picture and sound quality were awful. … Continue reading
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The following is from Ronald Reagan Speaking My Mind, Simon and Schuster, 1999, p. 46: Now you might wonder why I put this eulogy to Robert Taylor in here. It obviously has nothing to do with my being governor or … Continue reading
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On May 5, 1933 Robert Taylor made a screen test at Samuel Goldwyn Studios. He was dressed in a Roman (not quite Quo Vadis) costume. The original caption for the pictures is: This is what producer Sam Goldwyn saw when … Continue reading
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f the ad: His face made over $300,000,000 for MGM. Yet Robert Taylor never knew what the fuss was all about. He preferred to spend his time on the 113 acre ranch he placed between himself and the rest of … Continue reading
I just got my copy of the new Last Hunt DVD. It is remastered and looks wonderful. My overall impression, however, is equivocal. I do love animals and the buffalo killing scenes were hard to take. A TCM article quotes Stewart Granger as being revolted by the carnage and especially having to refrigerate the buffalo at night so they wouldn’t rot too much and then laying them out again.
Except for Debra Paget, the acting is exceptional. It’s not Paget’s fault. All she gets to do is stand around and look doe-eyed. She also gets a nude scene (from the back and with some tree limbs.) Both Granger and Taylor are much better than they were in “All the Brothers were Valiant” a couple of years earlier.
Lloyd Nolan is also top notch and I’m reminded of the Taylor-Nolan interaction in “Bataan” 13 years earlier.
Taylor’s character, Charlie Gilson is both kill-crazed and bit pathetic. He beats up the half-breed boy (Russ Tamblyn) and then can’t understand why he is left alone. He equates killing with sexual pleasure and then doesn’t rape the Indian girl because she won’t respond to him verbally. Lying on the ground after she goes to tend the child he seems so sad and alone.
Robert Taylor had a horror or over-acting or having his performance “smell of pork.” Despite this, director Richard Brooks has gotten a far less restrained performance than usual. Charlie is clumsy, often drunk, and given to hasty movements that sometimes don’t end well.
In fact, it is an Oscar worthy performance. I wonder why it didn’t get at least a nomination.
Robert Taylor Actor 