"What am I Watching" ON TCM: STARRING MERLE OBERON - 11/3

Wuthering Heights(1939). Directed by William Wyler and produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It is based on the novel, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only sixteen of the novel's thirty-four chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht and John Huston. The film won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award for Best Film. It earned nominations for eight Academy Awards, including for Best Picture and Best Actor. The 1939 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black-and-white category, was awarded to Gregg Toland for his work.

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A Night in Paradise(1946).Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Arthur Lubin. In 560 AD King Croesus of Lydia comes under the wrath of the sorceress Queen Attossa he had promised to marry, when he chooses the beautiful Delarai of Persia instead. Attossa, in disembodied form, mocks Croesus nearly to the point of madness, so he seeks a solution from the fortune-teller Aesop, arrived from the Isle of Samos in disguise. But Aesop also has eyes for Delarai.

The Divorce Of Lady X(1938)British romantic comedy film. It was directed by Tim Whelan and produced by Alexander Korda. The music score was by Miklos Rozsa and Lionel Salter and the cinematography by Harry Stradling. Cast: Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and Binnie Barnes.The film was made in Technicolor. It was a remake of the 1933 film, Counsel's Opinion, also made by London Films and in which Binnie Barnes appeared in the role played by Merle Oberon.

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The Cowboy And The Lady (1938). western romantic comedy film directed by H.C. Potter. Cast: Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon. Based on a story by Frank R. Adams and veteran film director Leo McCarey. It won an Academy Award for Sound Recording (Thomas Moulton), and was nominated for Original Score (Alfred Newman) and Original Song ("The Cowboy and the Lady" by Lionel Newman and Arthur Quenzer)

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The Dark Angel(1935). Tells the story of three childhood friends, two male, one female. When the woman chooses one of the men to marry, the other, jealous, sends his rival off into a dangerous situation during wartime. Cast: Fredric March, Merle Oberon, and Herbert Marshall. Directed by Sidney Franklin. It won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Merle Oberon) and Best Sound, Recording (Thomas T. Moulton).

The Lion Has Wings(1939). British, black-and-white, documentary-style, propaganda, war film. The film was directed by Adrian Brunel, Brian Desmond Hurst, Alexander Korda and Michael Powell. The film was made at the outbreak of the Second World War.

Affectionally Yours(1941).

Affectionately Yours(1941). Cast: Rita Hayworth, Merle Oberon and Dennis Morgan. Also featured were the Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen.

Foreign correspondent Rickey Mayberry, is running all over Europe with other women,while his wife Sue, is alone in New York. Rickey soon learns that Sue has divorced him. It is then that he realizes he cannot live without her. He rushes home to win her back. His new flame Irene has plans of her own.

Rickey returns to New York to find Sue is engaged to Owen Wright. Sue did not like separation caused by Rickey's work. So, he figures the only way to make her happy is to quit his job. But his editor, Chester Phillips, does not want to lose his best reporter and Irene also does not want to lose Rickey. The two join forces to keep the Mayberry's apart and they come up with a plan to have a photo of Irene and Rickey together for ammunition.

Irene pretends to be on Rickey's side and offers to help him with Sue. He tells Sue that Irene is a girl from a dating service. Sue invites them to go out to dinner with she and Owen. The plan is ruined when Irene "accidentally" lets the incriminating photo be seen. Sue realizes they already know each other and decides to marry Owen the following day.

Irene and Phillips try and keep him from the ceremony. They invite him to Irene's apartment, where four thugs keep him trapped until morning. Will Rickey escape in time for the ceremony?

I thought this was a very cute movie. It's also always fun to watch Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen perform.

Merle Oberon (18 or 19 February 1911 – 23 November 1979) was an Indian-born British actress.

She worked as a club hostess under the name Queenie O'Brien and played in minor and unbilled roles in various films.

Her film career received a major boost when the director Alexander Korda gave her a role, under the name Merle Oberon in the film, The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). She was then given leading roles in the film, The Scarlet Pimpernel(1934), with Leslie Howard, who was her lover at the time.

Oberon's had a successful career, partly as a result of her relationship with and later marriage to Alexander Korda. He sold "shares" of her contract to producer Samuel Goldwyn, who gave her roles in Hollywood. Oberon earned her sole Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for, The Dark Angel (1935). Around this time she had a serious romance with David Niven.

She was selected to perform in Korda's film, I, Claudius (1937), but a serious car accident resulted in filming being cancelled. Oberon was scarred for life, but skilled lighting technicians were able to hide her injuries. She went on to perform in her most famous film, Wuthering Heights(1939), A Song to Remember(1945) and in the film, Désirée(1954).
Please click to read Lady Eves, Claudis(1937) The movie that never was review.