Joan Fontaine Movies
Born Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, Joan Fontaine began her acting career in her late teens with various West Coast stage companies under the name Joan Burfield. She also used that name when she made her 1935 feature film debut in No More Ladies, in which she had a minor role. The daughter of '40s actress Lilian Fontaine, she returned to the screen as Joan Fontaine after two more years of stage work, although appearing primarily in B-movies. Two exceptions were A Damsel in Distress (1937) opposite Fred Astaire and Gunga Din (1939) with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Her career took off in the early '40s due largely to leads in two Alfred Hitchcock films. Fontaine received Best Actress Oscar nominations for her work in the director's Rebecca (1940) and The Constant Nymph (1943), and won an Oscar for her performance in Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941). She starred in many subsequent films, at first playing innocent, well-bred types, but later maturing into roles as sophisticated, worldly, often hot-headed or maliciously calculating women. Appearing in few films after 1958, Fontaine was also a licensed pilot, champion balloonist, prize-winning tuna fisherman, expert golfer, licensed interior decorator, and Cordon Bleu cook. The sister of actress Olivia de Havilland (with whom she supposedly had many feuds), the first three of Fontaine's four husbands were actor Brian Aherne, producer William Dozier, and producer/screenwriter Collier Young. She published an autobiography, No Bed of Roses, in 1978 and made two rare TV movie and miniseries appearances in 1986. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1937
Puritan Pictures seldom turned out a film that looked most expensive than it really was. The studio's Million to One appears to have been made on a budget of eight dollars and a box lunch, but that doesn't lessen its entertainment value one bit. Herman Brix (later known as Bruce Bennett) stars as Johnny Kent, a hot-shot Olympic athlete who lets success go to his head. After a dizzying cycle of wine, women and song, Johnny is no good to anyone, least of all himself. He wises up in time to qualify for a decathlon competition with his arch-rival Hale (Reed Howes). Oldtimers Monte Blue and Kenneth Harlan play key supporting roles, while the ingenue is a pretty but antiseptic newcomer named Joan Burfield. By the time Million to One made it to New York (nearly three years after it was made), Ms. Burfield was billing herself as Joan Fontaine. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Herman Brix, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1937
A doctor (John Beal) who loses faith in his skills renounces his profession and hides himself in a variety of jobs. He takes a minor job at an airfield, where he meets nurse Joan Fontaine, who works on a "flying hospital". On board the aircraft, Beal finds he is the only person who can perform a delicate operation; worse luck, the plane is about to crash! Beal finds himself, per the title, but nearly loses his life in the process. Watch for Dwight Frye, the immortal "Renfield" in Bela Lugosi's Dracula, as an hysterical patient--and seven-year-old Dwight Frye Jr. as a child rescued from a train wreck. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Beal, Joan Fontaine, (more)
- 1937
In this comedy, an attorney works to help the mayor of a large city win the election until the incumbent falls in love with the lawyer's daughter. Suddenly nothing comes out exactly as planned. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1935
MGM regularly churned out films in the 1930s that were all "star power" and very little plot. No More Ladies is a good example of this. Joan Crawford marries bon vivant Robert Montgomery, hoping to mend his wastrel ways. Montgomery refuses to assumes the proper responsibilities of a husband, so Crawford tries to make him jealous by taking up with Franchot Tone. Everyone involved has limitless money, beautiful clothes and all the time in the world to spend on the trivialities of the plotline. Depression era audiences loved to see good-looking people in sumptuous sets, so No More Ladies was a success. The fact that, when asked, these audiences couldn't remember a single thing about the story was beside the point. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, (more)
