I’ve just started reading Marc Eliot’s book, Jimmy Stewart: A Biography. Having just begun, I can’t say anything about it’s merits, though I can say I read Eliot’s book from a few years ago, Cary Grant: A Biography and enjoyed it. I’m not sure why, but I like reading biographies of Hollywood’s luminaries of the “golden” years. I do have a theory, though.
I think I read these books because they prompt me to go back and rewatch movies, some I had almost completely forgotten about. In Stewart’s case, Wikipedia says he, “… appeared in 92 films, television programs and shorts.” So, although I have quite a few Jimmy Stewart films they are just a smidgeon of what he made. But they’re almost all good ones!
Last night, I decided to go through some of them and decided to start with 1939’s Destry Rides Again. If you haven’t seen Destry, you’ve no idea what you’re missing. It’s a western comedy, with Jimmy Stewart playing a gunshy lawmen brought in to bring order to the lawless town of Bottleneck. It also features Marlene Dietrich. You can take a look at my 2003 review here.
Jimmy Stewart, by the way, was named third Greatest Male Star of All time by the American Film Institute (AFI), just behind Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant.
And some other Jmmy Stewart movies I’ve written about:
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- You Can’t Take It With You (1938)
- Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Update:
I just found an old post, from 2005, regarding Eliot’s previous book (the one on Cary Grant). The post is titled: Cary Grant — who was that guy?
