Leading Couples (Turner Classic Movies)
William Powell and Myrna Loy. Bogart and Bacall. Tracy and Hepburn. These on-screen (and sometimes off-screen) couples defined romantic chemistry and the art of falling in love. From Turner Classic Movies Leading Couples features the most unforgettable screen pairings of the studio era including actors and actresses with many film courtships and those who made their indelible mark in a single memorable movie. Engaging and thoroughly researched each profile includes trivia behind-the-scenes stories biographical overviews and memorable quotes illustrated by rare stills and poster art.Product Details
Customer Reviews
Classic reading
I loved the book! I might have added a few more couples, and even exchanged some of the couples listed (I think they did that in the movies quite often!) Still, it was a great read for someone who loves watching classic movies.
Book: "Leading Couples" (Turner Classic Movies) ...WHAT A DUD!!! 
"Leading Couples" (Turner Classic Movies)
I got paid the other day, & I was really all excited since the new book; "Leading Couples (Turner Classic Movies)", was on store shelves Soo, I got to my local bookstore, plucked the book off the shelf & as I start flipping through the book, it starts to dawn on me ...page by page...& then ...then BAM!; .....NO MENTION OF JOAN CRAWFORD!! THE BIG MOVIE QUEEN ...esp. during the 1930's!..What a let down.
Don't get me wrong, it is a nice book, all around. (Rolls-Eyes!) Great pictures. Very nice, clean pictures! Great film & star info, interesting trivia bits about the stars & films, etc.
But how can TCM leave behind Joan Crawford..
See, I already have:
Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era by Turner Classic Movies
Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era by Turner Classic Movies
Great books I might tell U! If u have a movie lover in your life, or someone new to films, etc; these are great books, but the 3rd book just bombed. WHY do U ask!.
But not one (1) single mention of "Joan Crawford"...the "Movie Queen!"... Bad TCM ...Very lousy
LET SEE ...Ummmm ....SINCE TCM MISSED THE BOAT!!! I guess It will be my job to fill in a blank part of Hollywood's Golden Age of film history!!!
Here is the list of Joan Crawford, and her most frequent Co-Stars..some were lovers, some were friends, and some just..well to be nice they jsut didnt get along...but they all made many films and history together in Hollywood, Why, Oh TCM failed to mention Joan Crawford is beyond me!
Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery
Mr Montgomery was Joan's co-star in 6 films (her 4th most frequent co-star after Gwen Lee, Clark Gable, and Tone). These films were:
Untamed ('29), Our Blushing Brides ('30), Letty Lynton ('32), Forsaking All Others ('34), No More Ladies ('35), The Last of Mrs. Cheyney ('37)
Clark Gable
There for love affair was legendry, both off the camera and on. As a studio boss, Louis B. Mayer asked both Gable & Crawford, "Which do U want a career or a love affair?!", The rest was, well history! (The two had an on-again/off-again affair between 1931 and his death in 1960.)
The "King of Hollywood," with whom Joan co-starred in 8 films (he was her second-most frequent co-star, after Gwen Lee): Dance, Fools, Dance ('31), Laughing Sinners ('31), Possessed ('31), Dancing Lady ('33), Chained ('34), Forsaking All Others ('34), Love on the Run ('36), and Strange Cargo ('40).
Gwen Lee
Surprisingly, this star of the silent era (who acted in films until 1938) holds the record for most co-appearances with Joan, in 9 films: Lady of the Night (the first film for both women) and Pretty Ladies (1925) ; Twelve Miles Out (1927); Untamed, The Duke Steps Out, and Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929); Our Blushing Brides (1930); Paid (1930); and (_uncredited_) in Mannequin (1938).
Ms. Gwen Lee was a 1928 WAMPAS Baby Star (which Miss. Crawford had also been in 1926).*
Other "Leading Couples" for Miss. Crawford...?!??.
James Stewart
American acting legend and Joan's co-star in Ice Follies of 1939 and The Gorgeous Hussy (1936).
Franchot Tone
Another "Legendary" Couple. (They were the Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor of the 1930's!)
The two made 7 films together (he was her third most frequent co-star after Gwen Lee and Gable):
Today We Live ('33), Dancing Lady ('33), Sadie McKee ('34), No More Ladies ('35), The Gorgeous Hussy ('36), Love on the Run ('36), and The Bride Wore Red ('37).
(*The WAMPAS Baby Stars was a promotional campaign sponsored by the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers in the United States, which honored thirteen young women each year whom they believed to be on the threshold of movie stardom (many went on to bigger fame after their title as 'Baby Starlet'). They were selected from 1922 to 1934 and honored at a party called the "WAMPAS Frolic". Those selected were given extensive media coverage.)
Final Rating D- *I put the book the book back, & I bought another book instead.
I will wait for the holiday!*
Arbitrary Rules Get in the Way of a Glossy Selection of Hollywood's Leading Couples
As the third in what appears to be a trilogy of golden-era Hollywood portraits from Turner Classic Movies, this glossy compilation focuses on the leading on-screen couples of the studio era. This handsome paperback is the natural successor to 2005's Leading Ladies: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actresses of the Studio Era and 2006's Leading Men: The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era, all in the exact same format. Unsurprisingly, many of the stars in the previous books show up here partnered with another fellow luminary. Film historian and longtime TCM host Robert Osborne again provides the introduction and explains the rather arbitrary rules that allowed the editors to winnow the list to the 37 classic pairings presented. Consequently, key omissions - the inevitable outcome of any surveyed list of favorites - appear to have a greater impact here than with the first two compilations. We are told a panel of ten movie aficionados is responsible for the final, agreed-upon choices.
Some couples are inarguably spotlighted - Astaire and Rogers, Tracy and Hepburn, Powell and Loy, Bogart and Bacall, Olivier and Leigh. Several are worthy of inclusion though not quite in the same league - Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, Doris Day and Rock Hudson, Jeanette McDonald and Nelson Eddy, John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan - simply because one star is marginally more intriguing than the other or their joint output is not as consistent in quality. A few have been severely underestimated in hindsight, and the editors have smartly included them here - Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney (arguably the screen's best looking couple), Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. Others have faded from memory such as Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery, Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, and Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. In this respect, the book serves a great purpose in re-introducing luminous screen personalities who deserve to be resuscitated for a new generation of film viewers.
At the same time, exclusions are many as the editors decided no actor or actress could appear in the top 25 multiple-movie pairs more than once. They then provide a contrived addendum to their own rule by allowing any star in the top 25 to be part of the twelve remaining single-film pairings. Consequently, stars like Bogart, Gable, Garbo, Rita Hayworth, and Elizabeth Taylor are double-dipped in this collection at the expense of others. For example, Hayworth is chosen for both her multiple pairings with Glenn Ford (of which Gilda is their only true classic together) and her one film with ex-husband Orson Welles, The Lady from Shanghai. Yet, Cary Grant is only recognized for his one movie with Grace Kelly, To Catch a Thief, and nothing is mentioned of his multiple classic pairings with Katharine Hepburn (already taken by Tracy), Ginger Rogers (already taken by Astaire), Irene Dunne (sadly ignored here), Ingrid Bergman (already taken by Bogart), or Myrna Loy (already taken by Powell). Powell's occupancy also means Carole Lombard is also unfairly excluded along with her frequent co-star Fred MacMurray, who in turn co-starred frequently with Claudette Colbert (also sadly ignored here).
However, for all the glaring omissions, there are gems like James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan (for whom he held an unrequited crush) and Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Some are on the more trivial side like Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret (just for Viva Las Vegas), Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont, and Fay Wray and King Kong. For each of the couples, there is a full-page photo of them together, thumbnail profiles which include even their astrological signs and heights (Bacall and Bergman were both taller than Bogart), a summary of their off-screen relationships, and their essential screen match-ups. Like "Leading Ladies" and "Leading Men", "Leading Couples" is all very superficial but entertaining for movie buffs even if the arbitrary rules get in the way of worthy selections. By the way, the too-subtle watermark graphics are a bad touch since they look like grease stains left on the pages.
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