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Having just watched "Helen's Babies", I have to say Edward Everett Horton and Clara Bow make about the most bizarre romantic couple I can imagine!

Well I think Buster Keaton and Blue Eyes are a bit of an odd couple, but YMMV.

More bizzare than her match up with Ernest Torrence in Mantrap? Had to rub my eyes on that one.

I was surprised when John Gilbert winds up with Lars Hanson at the end of Flesh and the Devil. But then it seemed kind of inevitable, in retrospect.

From some angles Lars Hanson is almost as beautiful as Garbo...

Well I think Buster Keaton and Blue Eyes are a bit of an odd couple, but YMMV.

Keaton and Sinatra made a movie together?! Who knew??

Unless, of course, you're referring to Keaton and his cow, Brown Eyes, in GO WEST.

What about Raymond Griffith and Helene Costello in WET PAINT? Tom Moore with Swanson in MANHANDLED, and Betty Bronson in A KISS FOR CINDERELLA. Come to think of it, Tom Moore with just about anybody!

I really like HELEN'S BABIES by the way. I'd buy it if Flicker Alley would release a Pre-Paramount Bow collection. Or even a Baby Peggy Collection. That would be very interesting. Including hopefully the complete CAPTAIN JANUARY.

Incidentally, in the extended ending to FLESH AND THE DEVIL, Gilbert ends up with Barbra Kent. I'd be happy.

Well I think Buster Keaton and Blue Eyes are a bit of an odd couple, but YMMV.

Keaton and Sinatra made a movie together?! Who knew??

They're both in Around the World in 80 Days...and Keaton reportedly contributed gags to Take Me Out to the Ball Game, FWIW.

Well I think Buster Keaton and Blue Eyes are a bit of an odd couple, but YMMV.

Keaton and Sinatra made a movie together?! Who knew??

Unless, of course, you're referring to Keaton and his cow, Brown Eyes, in GO WEST.

D'oh!

Oh course I meant Brown Eyes. Thanks for the correction.

Well, Clara is also paired with Percy Marmont, which is almost as weird. Though a very fine actor, he hardly seems leading man material.

But then there's both Norma Talmadge and Marguerite Marsh in love with Tully Marshall of all people in The Devil's Needle.

greta

Ha ha! Ernest Torrence was as homely as a mud fence. Percy Marmont was just plain Homely. Can't understand why Clara Bow would be cast with either of these two guys? Maybe the leading man should have been Warner Baxter? Or the Ranger that catches her eye at the end? Nevertheless, MANTRAP is still a fun film.

Well, Clara is also paired with Percy Marmont, which is almost as weird. Though a very fine actor, he hardly seems leading man material.

But then there's both Norma Talmadge and Marguerite Marsh in love with Tully Marshall of all people in The Devil's Needle.

greta

Judging from Street of Forgotten Men he was a very fine actor indeed. He was also rather handsome in his way. (Torrence could also be handsome, though certainly not in MANTRAP)

In Hitchcock's 1931 Rich and Strange he has a brief love affair with Joan Barry. She was easily 20 years his junior but there's real chemistry between them in a May/December way. Still, Joan Barry was a very different personalty than Clara Bow- much more passive.

But then there's both Norma Talmadge and Marguerite Marsh in love with Tully Marshall of all people in The Devil's Needle.

I love Norma, but this might be too excruciating to watch...unless played as insane farce.

But then there's both Norma Talmadge and Marguerite Marsh in love with Tully Marshall of all people in The Devil's Needle.

I love Norma, but this might be too excruciating to watch...unless played as insane farce.

Obligatory Tully Marshall film quote: "The only things I get a kick out of are good food, smooth liquor, and easy money." He also looks like the last time he chased a woman was about 1905. An object of a woman's desire? They had places to lock up the unfortunates of such dementia then.

Old Tully managed to marry (on different occasions) Mae Murray AND Gloria Swanson, in spite of his obvious STD condition. Luckily for them, he died before consummating the marriage. He also mined for gold with Chico & Harpo Marx (imagine what a comedy team that could've been).

:lol: Ha ha! Ernest Torrence was as homely as a mud fence. Percy Marmont was just plain Homely. Can't understand why Clara Bow would be cast with either of these two guys? Maybe the leading man should have been Warner Baxter? Or the Ranger that catches her eye at the end? Nevertheless, MANTRAP is still a fun film.

Beautiful, sexy, vivacious woman ends up with ordinary guy? Sounds like the staple of sit-coms, from The Honeymooners to the King of Queens. What I want to know is: Why don't we ever see this in reverse?

:lol: Ha ha! Ernest Torrence was as homely as a mud fence. Percy Marmont was just plain Homely. Can't understand why Clara Bow would be cast with either of these two guys? Maybe the leading man should have been Warner Baxter? Or the Ranger that catches her eye at the end? Nevertheless, MANTRAP is still a fun film.

Beautiful, sexy, vivacious woman ends up with ordinary guy? Sounds like the staple of sit-coms, from The Honeymooners to the King of Queens. What I want to know is: Why don't we ever see this in reverse?

This is the subject of one of my favorite gags to pull, as on rare occasion the man/woman reverse beauty thing happen on television. Out of nowhere, I'll exclaim "My god, he's prettier than she is!". It always gets a laugh.

I've seen it both ways in real life marriages (one end of the vaudeville act is plain or outright homely), so there is precedent. The fact that men are responsible for most films made would tend to tilt the scale toward what we see in Mantrap IMO.

This is the subject of one of my favorite gags to pull, as on rare occasion the man/woman reverse beauty thing happen on television. Out of nowhere, I'll exclaim "My god, he's prettier than she is!". It always gets a laugh.

That quip applies to The Sheik. I mean, who's prettier, Rudy or Agnes Ayres? It appears the filmmakers voted for Rudy: he gets most of the carefully composed, soft-focus closeups.

This is the subject of one of my favorite gags to pull, as on rare occasion the man/woman reverse beauty thing happen on television. Out of nowhere, I'll exclaim "My god, he's prettier than she is!". It always gets a laugh.

Way to publicly humiliate the woman, mndean.


Jim

I've seen it both ways in real life marriages (one end of the vaudeville act is plain or outright homely), so there is precedent. The fact that men are responsible for most films made would tend to tilt the scale toward what we see in Mantrap IMO.

Example- George Burns & Gracie Allen. Burns wasn't all that homely when he was young but he always made a contrast to Gracie.

Newer example: Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

This is the subject of one of my favorite gags to pull, as on rare occasion the man/woman reverse beauty thing happen on television. Out of nowhere, I'll exclaim "My god, he's prettier than she is!". It always gets a laugh.

Way to publicly humiliate the woman, mndean.


Jim

The one inside the television screen? Pfff, she can take care of herself.

That line is wasted on TV screens; I save it for couples I meet at parties.

That line is wasted on TV screens; I save it for couples I meet at parties.

Remind me not to go to parties with you! I had a friend who became, er, aggressively amorous when drunk at parties we went to. It was hilarious the day after as he usually couldn't remember what he did, but ultimately I couldn't deal with that behavior, either.

Understand, I only use the TV line with an audience, otherwise it's pointless.

But then there's both Norma Talmadge and Marguerite Marsh in love with Tully Marshall of all people in The Devil's Needle.

I love Norma, but this might be too excruciating to watch...unless played as insane farce.

No, they're in love with his talent. It comes across as believable, though he does look too old for them even back in 1915. The fact that Marguerite Marsh is being forced into a marriage with a count (where did all these eligible European noblemen come from in pre-1920s films?) also made any escape seemed more romantic.

King Kong and Faye Wray

Jean Harlow and Paul Bern

King Kong and Faye Wray

I guess that's taking my comment about a beautiful woman and average Joe to its extreme (King of Manhattan instead of King of Queens?).
Although Kong has a certain animal magnetism.

Okay, if we're jumping into the talkie era, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina. That always gave me the creeps. Cary Grant could get away with it -- and would have in this case, if he'd been cast instead -- but as it is, seeing Audrey wind up with a man who looks like he could be her grandpa just feels wrong.

Okay, if we're jumping into the talkie era, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina. That always gave me the creeps. Cary Grant could get away with it -- and would have in this case, if he'd been cast instead -- but as it is, seeing Audrey wind up with a man who looks like he could be her grandpa just feels wrong.

It's a bit like seeing Colleen Moore and Milton Sills in the footage from Flaming Youth. Sills had plenty of magnetism but the apparent age difference is jarring. Then again, Sills is just 41 to her 24 so it's not absurd. Sills looks mature even in 1919 when he's only 37. He was only 48 at his death but looked to be in his 50's- in a good way, mind you.

Okay, if we're jumping into the talkie era, Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina. That always gave me the creeps. Cary Grant could get away with it -- and would have in this case, if he'd been cast instead -- but as it is, seeing Audrey wind up with a man who looks like he could be her grandpa just feels wrong.

It's a bit like seeing Colleen Moore and Milton Sills in the footage from Flaming Youth. Sills had plenty of magnetism but the apparent age difference is jarring. Then again, Sills is just 41 to her 24 so it's not absurd. Sills looks mature even in 1919 when he's only 37. He was only 48 at his death but looked to be in his 50's- in a good way, mind you.

Yeah, I thought Astaire and Audrey in Funny Face a bit weird that way too. "She's young enough to be your daughter."

I recently saw a cute little French movie called La Fee, that had the nice twist that the female lead was just as odd-looking as the male lead. But cute. (She's a fairy who wants to grant him three wishes, but he has trouble figuring out the third one.) It had a very silent-film-French-comedy feel to it, with a rather absurdist twist as well. But it made clear that idea of having elaborate chases involving a bunch of characters has never really left French film-making since La Chasse aux Potirons.

seeing Audrey wind up with a man who looks like he could be her grandpa just feels wrong.

Maybe, but Bacall didn't think it so unseemly to wind up with the same guy for real when he could have been, at the very least, her pa. (What was Audrey's age in Sabrina?) Marion & Hearst? Considering the flamboyant ceremonies we've seen take place en masse in court houses all over the country over the last few years, the Sabrina match-up now strikes me as pleasantly conventional.