Post here when you watch on old George Brent movie

Or find a good quote about his now inexplicable appeal.

Think the only time I didn’t find him annoying was in Experiment Perilous opposite Hedy Lamarr.

I have high hopes for him opposite Merle Oberon in 'Til We Meet Again.

So I'm watching 'Til We Meet Again last night and ten minutes in I'm thinking, "I've definitely seen this movie before... but... not with these actors...?" And of course it turns out that it's a remake of One Way Passage (1932) which had William Powell and Kay Francis in the George Brent and Merle Oberon roles. Haven't finished watching, but all I can say is that Merle falls hard for George with astonishing speed in this.

Near the start of the film George Brent in five minutes does two things that would normally get you thrown out of a bar

(xp)What woman wouldn't?

Smashing the glass and...can't recall the other

Mixing his own drink.

Also getting a second cocktail glass to share his drink with Merle is unorthodox but the bartender did give it to him.

A couple months ago I saw The Rains Came (1939). Ex-IRA member Brent plays a British artist vegetating in India. He's got a monologue extolling a statue of Queen Victoria as a symbol of the British Empire--and he is professional enough to sell it.

Brent is not bad, he's just bland compared to his contemporaries. But that blandness and reliability made him a useful foil to his leading ladies. I like him best in Ex-Bad Boy (1931), in which he plays the director/fiance of a Garbo-type actress, and has already beaten up at least one of her exes.

Starting to come around to this common view, but have been burned one too many times watching him opposite Barbara Stanwyck. He does better with less forceful actresses. Although maybe I should also go and see how he does with Bette Davis.

David Thompson:

Brent was typed as a romantic lead despite his somewhat porcine face and his sticklike acting—his performances divide neatly between those in which he’s wearing a mustache and those in which he isn’t; not much else distinguishes them. That he was borrowed by other studios for their female stars—most bizarrely by MGM for Garbo in The Painted Veil (34, Richard Boleslavsky) and Myrna Loy in Stamboul Quest (34, Sam Wood)—would seem impenetrably mysterious if we didn’t know that Garbo, too, had responded to that off-screen “excitement” noted by Bette Davis.

No idea who this is, but of course I keep reading it as George Brett.

So you showed films of George Brett to your students instead?

I have shown the pine-tar movie (an epic), yes.

Surprised to see that other George, George Reeves, show up in a small role in 'Til We Meet Again, especially after having had a similar experience a few days ago whilst watching From Here to Eternity.

really wanna know what the off-screen draw was.

Don't think even the Scott O'Brien book about him has a convincing answer.

Actually Jeanine Basinger tries to explain it– well, the on-screen draw at least– in the forward to that book but still idgi, even though I follow the logic.

My Reputation is airing on TCM tomorrow night.