Hans Lobert- Carl Hubbell & Edward G. Robinson

[familytoad]

Anyone else love the old movies?
I swear if I could have just sports channels and Turner Classic Movies I would need no other TV.

I found a picture of a film I want to see. I'm sure it's pretty dated, but I like EGR. Even if his character is often a stereotype gruff gangster (Lancey Howard from Cincinnati Kid, Johnny Rocco from Key Largo) he's fun to watch act.

In this one he plays Hans Lobert!
Also credited is Carl Hubbell.

[familytoad]

Apparently, Edward G. Robinson was a passionate collector of art...and yes of baseball cards and cigar bands!

Given that he was born in 1893, he would have been a young smoker (everyone was) in the ATC days and into the early caramel age. It's fascinating to think of the cards he must have had!

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by familytoad

Apparently, Edward G. Robinson was a passionate collector of art...and yes of baseball cards and cigar bands!

Given that he was born in 1893, he would have been a young smoker (everyone was) in the ATC days and into the early caramel age. It's fascinating to think of the cards he must have had!

Robinson was also one of the few, and certainly the most well-known, Hollywood star who named names for senator McCarthy. While there may have been some legitimate targets on that list, many an innocent career was ruined. I am not the type to defend anyone in Hollywood, but I did think the McCarthy witch hunt was way over the top.

I do like old movies, but, if one of his is on, I find something better to do with my time.


-Raymond

[Donscards]

Originally Posted by familytoad

Apparently, Edward G. Robinson was a passionate collector of art...and yes of baseball cards and cigar bands!

Given that he was born in 1893, he would have been a young smoker (everyone was) in the ATC days and into the early caramel age. It's fascinating to think of the cards he must have had!

I also enjoy Edward G. Robinson movies, if you ever see this one showing someplace , let me know====I know he collected art and painted, but I never knew he collected baseball cards.

[howard38]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Robinson was also one of the few, and certainly the most well-known, Hollywood star who named names for senator McCarthy. While there may have been some legitimate targets on that list, many an innocent career was ruined. I am not the type to defend anyone in Hollywood, but I did think the McCarthy witch hunt was way over the top.

I do like old movies, but, if one of his is on, I find something better to do with my time.


-Raymond

I don't believe Robinson ever named names. He appeared before HUAC but only to clear his own name by repudiating some groups he once had some sort of association with. He had been threatened with blacklisting and even though he was cleared it was his own career that suffered. He was also a strong advocate of civil rights for blacks before it was fashionable. He is someone, IMO, worthy of admiration.

My father was also investigated by HUAC and though he barely talked about it I eventually got the transcripts through the FOI Act. A lot of it was redacted but what I could read was incredibly petty and silly. I agree with you that the witch-hunt was way over the top.

Edited to add: Being named by HUAC in the early 50s might explain why he went from doing movies like Key Largo in 1948 to playing Hans Lobert in a B movie in 1953.

[familytoad]

Funny how revealing this thread turned out to be!

It started because I am really hooked on old corny movies.

Bogart was in several classics, so I look for his.
EGR is just fun to watch act.
Peter Lorre is a hoot.
Most of these movies are "over the top" with corny acting but I really like them.

When reading about EGR , I found some trivia on IMDB (a great film resource) where I discovered his passion for art, baseball cards and cigar band collecting.
He mentions wanting "all your Ty Cobbs".

That site tends to not be too controversial, so it doesn't offer much opinion, but does mention the McCarthy era.
I ,for one, don't know much about this era but I may read up just to be able to form my own opinion.

Tonight I am finishing up "To have and have not", Bacall's first film with Bogey.

I haven't found the Lobert film on any site yet, but I will let you know if I do!

[almostdone]

Lobert mentions this film and working with Robinson on it in "
The Glory of Their Times" on CD.
Drew

[58pinson]

Many thanks for this thread Brian! This is one of my favorite baseball movies from back in the day. Unfortunately, I had it filed in my dusty memory banks as "It Happens Every Spring".

There is a great scene in the movie where a very young Richard Jaeckel (?), who is an upstart pitcher in the Giants system, brushes back EGR, who hits the dirt and comes up ready to rumble.

It used to make my father, who was a die hard NY Giants fan, laugh without fail. Thanks for the find.

[brian1961]

Well Brian, how much did you wind up enjoying "TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT"? I thoroughly love that Bogart - Bacall movie, but I strongly enjoy all four of the movies they made together. Wasn't Walter Brennan a hoot? And wasn't it neat to hear Hoagy Carmichael? That is one very satisfying old film.

My favorite Edward G. Robinson movie is "BULLETS OR BALLOTS". There's this scene where EGR is silently going through a room. The room has been bugged. On the other end of the mic pick-up is Humphrey Bogart. What happens next always makes me laugh my head off---SO FUNNY!

Glad to hear some more of youse guys love old movies.

---Brian Powell

[familytoad]

Thanks for asking about my latest old movie experience!
"To have and have not" was certainly an enjoyable film...the best of the ones I have seen recently ( I have watched a lot of them as I go to sleep at night)

You pegged the fun roles by Hoagy as "Cricket" and Walter Brennan as "Eddie the Rummy" . Bogey and Bacall sizzle...highly recommended 9/10!!

I loved "The Big Sleep" last week too.

I'll be looking for the movies discussed above, and heck...practically anything Turner Classic Movies offers. Escapism is my new favorite activity.

At the risk of boring too many others, I won't bump the thread for a few more days...I'm back to work in the morning, which means less old movies get watched (a few get started, but seldom finished since the movies aren't the only things getting old!)

[brian1961]

Brian---

Just chanced to see if you responded to my mention of old movies. Glad you enjoyed TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. I also love THE BIG SLEEP, beginning to end, with the acting and the music simply "film noir" to the MAX.

You've probably seen this one, the film that catapulted Bogie to a major star, THE MALTESE FALCON. Believe it or not, the figurine and what the rara avis was supposed to represent figures heavily in the thirteenth chapter of my recently released E-book on a CD on postwar regional sports cards.

Turner Classic Movies started a series of films, in cooperation with selected theaters, where they were showing them on the big screen. About a year ago, in celebration of its 75th anniversary, THE MALTESE FALCON was aired. My son treated my wife and I, and we all went to see it. Honestly, it was a genuine thrill to see this classic on the big screen, after seeing it on a TV my whole life. Naturally, thoughts of how the movie figures in my thirteenth chapter flashed through my mind again, and again, and again. In a nutshell, I have given a priceless king-sized gem of a baseball card the name, THE MALTESE FALCON OF BASEBALL CARDS. It's the 1953 Stahl-Meyer Franks Mickey Mantle, graded by PSA in MINT 9 condition! A 1 of 1---far and away ahead of any other Stahl-Meyer Mantle.

Well, the author is starting to get verbose, so I'll shut up.

Back to movies, another Humphrey Bogart movie I love is ACROSS THE PACIFIC, the film he made right before his greatest and my favorite of his, along with just about everyone else---CASABLANCA.

Take care, friend. Keep enjoying those old movies. I bookmarked my favorite TCM opening, THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE. It's beautiful. You can find it by Google searching the title and include Turner Classic Movies. A thirty-second masterpiece.

---Brian Powell