Although I don't agree with Charlton Heston's politics, I have always enjoyed his films. With my love of history I was enthralled by the brave, honorable warriors he portrayed in Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and El Cid. Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green are also science fiction classics I value in my collection. For more on Charlton Heston check out:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Heston/heston.htm

http://charltonhestonworld.homestead.com/GREETING.html

 

I always found Yul Brynner's eastern mystique fascinating. He starred in one of my favorite westerns "The Magnificent Seven" as well as one of my favorite science fiction films, "Westworld" about an amusement park populated by androids that malfunction and begin taking their roles as gunfighters, knights, and Roman gladiators seriously with fatal results to the park's guests. As a gunfighter android, Yul Brynner dressed in a black outfit that resembled the costume he wore in "The Magnificent Seven". I always wondered about the significance of that fact. For more about Yul Brynner, check all the interesting links at: http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Yul/yul.htm

Deborah Kerr wore such sumptuous costumes in the "King and I", a big change from the simple nun's habit she wore in one of my favorite war films, "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" costarring Robert Mitchum. For more on Deborah Kerr check out:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Kerr/kerr.htm

Another lavish costume drama, "Cleopatra". Elizabeth Taylor's beauty, however, was not shared by the legendary last Pharoah of Egypt. Some Roman accounts actually describe her as ugly with a hawkish nose but apparently well endowed with enough feminine charms to seduce both Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. For more on Elizabeth Taylor check out:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Liz_Taylor/liz.htm

 

Another legendary screen siren, English film star Vivien Leigh, played Cleopatra, too, in 1946, although she is more famous for her 1939 portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in"Gone With The Wind". I did appreciate her Cleopatra's cleverness (the real Cleopatra was very intelligent, speaking seven languages). Her slender youthful appearance also more closely resembled a nineteen-year-old (Cleopatra was only 19 when she met Julius Caesar) than the buxom fortyish Taylor. However, her characterization of the Egyptian queen seemed a replay of the coquettish O'Hara rather than an original personification. As for "Gone With The Wind", I enjoy the first part of the film much more than the second half. It was the film, however, that ignited my interest in the Civil War. My favorite Civil War drama is "The Blue and The Gray". A made-for-television miniseries starring Stacy Keach, an actor I have always found to be outstanding and attractive. I actually prefer "The Blue and The Gray" to "North and South", a miniseries that generated more publicity. Of course "Glory" was heartrending, too. For more on Vivien Leigh, take a look at:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Actresses/Vivien/vivien.htm

Like most women, I found Clark Gable's charming rascal, Rhett Butler, irresistable. But Gable could also play a totally serious role exquisitely as he did in "Run Silent, Run Deep". For more about Clark Gable, check out:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Gable/gable.htm

This is a truly beautiful panoramic scene in the museum complete with a sleigh and sculpture of Rod Steiger but I could not get a good camera angle to capture it. Omar Shariff made such a handsome and sensitive leading man in "Dr. Zhivago" I was surprised he was not cast as a leading man more often. He also matured marvelously and never lost his romantic appeal.

 

"Shogun" was nothing less than a masterpiece. Richard Chamberlain's exquisite performance was matched by Toshiro Mifune as well as a pantheon of other talented performers. Famous Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa wrote of Mifune in his autobiography:

"Mifune had a kind of talent I had never encountered before in the Japanese film world. It was, above all, the speed with which he expressed himself that was astounding. The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three. The speed of his movements was such that he said in a single action what took ordinary actors three separate movements to express. He put forth everything directly and boldly, and his sense of timing was the keenest I had ever seen in a Japanese actor. And yet with all his quickness, he also had surprisingly fine sensibilities. "

Toshiro Mifune played another samurai opposite Charles Bronson in a unique western drama called "Red Sun". For more information on Toshiro Mifune check out: http://www.sprout.org/toshiro/biography/index.html

 

Another fascinating but photographically problematic scene from "Spartacus", one of my favorite historical pageants. For more about Kirk Douglas check out: http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Kirk/kirk.htm

 
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