Category: Cinema

Men for Freedom #1 Charlton Heston as Marc Antony

Today is the Ides Of March, the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated 2,267 years ago. Initially the Roman people supported the assassins. In William Shakespeare’s version of the story, the immortal Friends Romans, Countrymen speech by Marc Antony turned public opinion against the plotters.

If the Brutus of that speech was an honourable man, then so is Joe Biden in his ice cream dreams.

The following is a slightly poeticised version of some libertarian thoughts of actor Charlton Heston, who played Marc Antony in the 1950 film, Julius Caesar:

“The pulsing lifeblood / of liberty’s inside us: / our cultures sacred birthright:

to think and say out loud / what is in our hearts.”

God Bless Freedom

Geoff Fox, 15th March, 2023

(The above piece of Word Art is a “Photo by Chalmers Butterfield” with words added by Geoff Fox and is published under A Creative Commons  Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.)

Women For Freedom #24Susan HAYWARD

“My life is fair game for anybody. “ said actress Susan Hayward. “I spent an unhappy, penniless childhood in Brooklyn. I had to slug my way up in a town called Hollywood where people love to trample you to death. I don’t relax because I don’t know how. I don’t want to know how. Life is too short to relax.”

Suasan Hayward received five Oscar nominations for one victory for the role, in ” I Want To Live “, of Barbara Graham, a character billed as “the wildest of the jazzed-up generation”

“When you’re dead,” said Hayward, ” you’re dead. No one is going to remember me when I’m dead. Oh, maybe a few friends will remember me affectionately. Being remembered isn’t the most important thing, anyhow. It’s what you do when you are here that’s important.”

On the 14th of March, 1975, Susan Hayward died of cancer which may have been contracted as a result of exposure to radioactive fallout on the set of a movie shot in Utah.

Rest In Peace, Susan.

Praise the Lord For Life.

Geoff Fox, 14th March, 2023, Down Under

The Right To Scream # 1 Fay Wray

The movie King Kong, which was released in New York on the 2nd of March, 1933, made Fay Wray famous as a Scream Queen.

The movie was a fantasy.

But the impact of her screaming was real.

It extended the boundaries of onscreen freedom of speech to freedom to scream.

Her character, actress Ann Darrow, had been promised a tall, dark and handsome leading man.

This could have created various expectations in the heart, mind and body of the young woman picked out from the streets of New York to star in a mysterious adventure movie.

When the leading man she hoped for turned out be a gigantic, hairy, ferocious ape, the build up of emotions lead to the unleashing of screams unlike anything Hollywood had heard before.

Wray later said, “When I’m in New York I look at the Empire State Building and feel as though it belongs to me … or is it vice versa? … “

How does this relate to modern, victimhood feminism?

In King Kong, Fay Wray As The Beauty Killed The Beast.

In my eyes, The Beast of Third Wave Feminism kills the beauty of women in the modern world.

Its not supposed to be that way, to quote a country song.

But it is.

Will we get over it and calm down?

Or will we tear ourselves apart?

Fay Wray in October 1933.

Self Expression Heals.

Geoff Fox, 2nd March, 2023, Down Under

Women For Freedom #22 Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was born 107 years ago today, on the 29th of February, 1916.

She evoked the excitement of nights spent doing new things till dawn.

But her career sat way outside the modern era of graphic pornography available to anyone of any age who lives in a free country and knows how to use an online device.

Honest, restrained adult sexuality was very much a part of her work as proved by lyrics like:

“I could have danced all night/and still have begged for more.

I could have spread my wings/And done a thousand things/I’d never done before.”

God Bless Freedom

Geoff Fox, 1st March, 2023, Down Under

Women For Freedom #21 Ruby Keeler

In the movie “Dames”, Ruby Keeler’s character Barbara Hemingway said, “I’m free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I’m going to dance.”

Those were different times.

Ruby died 30 years ago today in California aged 83.

“Al Jolson was my first husband.” she once said, “He always used to boast that he was spoiling me for any man who might come after him. I think Al sensed that it wasn’t easy for me being married to an American institution… Was he right about spoiling me? I’m sorry. I couldn’t possibly say. I couldn’t be that indiscreet.”

Those were the days.

Geoff Fox

Women For Freedom # 20 Elizabeth Taylor

Legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor was born on this day 101 years ago.

She loved men, quite a few of them: she got married 8 times to seven different guys (Richard Burton twice) and said that she only slept with men she married. (I view this as a fantastic line by a very beautiful actress. It might even be true.)

Taylor said both, “Marriage is a great institution.” and “I am a very committed wife. And I should be committed too – for being married so many times.”

Freed0m doesn’t always give us exactly what we want or believe that we need.

But Freedom is more likely to work for us than tyranny

God Bless Elizabeth Taylor.

And all seven of her husbands.

By and large, she loved them all.

Geoff Fox, 27th February, 2023, Down Under

IMOTA #6 JOHN BARRYMORE

It is John Barrymore’s 141st birthday today or tomorrow. I mark the occasion and his gifts by naming him an Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere. He was called the “greatest living American tragedian” giving acclaimed performances as Hamlet and Richard The Third.

Barrymore with Carol Lombard in “Twentieth Century”

His sister Ethel and brother Lionel were also actors.

To begin with, on the stage, his brother Lionel was more likely to be cast as a leading man. John would get the comedy roles. An American cinephile friend of mine writes: “By the time they all went into the movies ( silents ), John became the one to have the leading man roles and was known as “THE GREAT PROFILE”. 

He loved living free.

Actors to portray Barrymore include W.C. Fields, Lawrence Olivier, Errol Flynn and Jack Cassidy.

Barrymore had alcohol problems at 14 years of age and was bankrupt in later life. He said, “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”

It wasnt always the life of a an unattached libertine. He married Dolores Costello, pictured below.

John Barrymore described Hamlet as a “normal, healthy, lusty young fellow . . … he was a great fencer, an athlete, a man who led an active, healthy life.” In the above photo Barrymore is being a normal young man with Dolores Costello in “The Sea Beast”. Later on, she became his third wife.

God Bless Freedom

But for most of us, Family Life Comes First.

Geoff Fox, 14th February, 2023, Down Under