Classic Film & TV Cafe: The Notorious Landlady (1962) 'Scene with Jack Lemmon and Kim Novak'

Source:Classic Film & TV Cafe- Hollywood Goddess Kim Novak, in The Notorious Landlady from 1962.

"Diplomat Jack Lemmon has just returned to England and doesn't know that everyone else suspects Kim Novak's character of murdering her husband!"

Source:Alamy Stock Photo- Kim Novak and Jack Lemmon, together in The Notorious Landlady from 1962.

From Classic Film & TV Cafe

Just on a personal note first: it was the early summer of 2009 June of that year when I was home on a Saturday and there was a an all day Alfred Hitchcock marathon and Vertigo was one of those movies. I heard the name Kim Novak before, but I didn't know who she was.

Vertigo is a good movie, but it's really Kim Novak who caught my attention to the point for the rest of that summer at least and into the fall my goal was to see as many Kim Novak movies that I possibly could. I saw Boys Night Out, Strangers When We Meet and perhaps 2-3 other Kim Novak movies that year. Whenever they were available on TV and I had the time to see them. I literally grew a crush on her.

There's something about Kim's voice, eyes, face that all come together at the same time that makes it impossible at least for me to concentrate on anything or anyone else when the camera is on her. She's absolutely adorable and even childlike at times and yet is also drop-dead gorgeous, with incredible sweet, sexy voice.

She's like the great talented athlete that has you begging for more every time you see him play, because he's such a great player and then one tragic day it's all over after he breaks his leg in a game and never plays again. And you keep think what if he didn't get hurt, how many more great plays and games, how great would his career had been, had it not been for that one tragic play. Except that Kim Novak was never tragically injured: she left Hollywood voluntarily in the 1960s.

So I think I know how the Jack Lemmon character feels in The Notorious Landlady, with the Kim Novak character knowing how much he likes her and just leaves him begging for more.

The Notorious Landlady is not a great movie, which unfortunately can be said about most of Kim Novak's movies, but she and Jack were great together in it. And if they were the only two main characters in it, perhaps it's a great movie, because they had great chemistry in. And Jack Lemmon was always a master comedic actor and comedian. 

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KQED: Gabe Meline- Kim Novak Opens Up: ‘I Think I’m Appreciated More Now’

Source:The Daily Review

This is a good interview from Gabe Meline of Hollywood Goddess Kim Novak and I mean that in the most positive sense. Yes, she was not just hot in Hollywood, but physically hot in general. Great body and yet so adorable at the same time that she generally came off as 10-15 years younger than she actually was, if not even younger than that. But she was so real and convincing as an actress. I think that is what made her great and again as I said before had her career not have been over for the most part by the late 1960s and I think we’re talking about one of the greatest actress’s ever. Same class as Susan Hayward, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Lana Turner, Liz Taylor and many others. She was really that great in the 1950s and 1960s.

If you watch the movie Vertigo with Alfred Hitchcock, Madeline is Kim Novak. Either as the Hollywood bomb shell blonde or as the red-hot Hollywood bomb shell. A women who looks like a goddess on the outside. Whose 5’6 and hot with a great body, but also as cute as a baby with a sexy voice. But on the inside she was a like a sixteen year old girl who wants the hottest guy in high school, but not ready to make a move, because she doesn’t think she’s good enough for him. Or thinks he won’t like her at all. As great as Kim was she always had this self-confidence issue that wasn’t that different from Marilyn Monroe, but she was smart enough not to get involved in drugs and abuse alcohol. Especially together which would the slow way to commit suicide.

Madeline from Vertigo, is Kim Novak. This gorgeous baby-faced blonde with the great body and the sexy Czech-Slavic curves. Who is never sure of herself and just wants someone to love her for who she is and just love her. Who is involved with a guy and his fantasy about who she should be. And she goes out-her-way to try to be that person for him. If you like Alfred Hitchcock and you like Kim Novak, you’ll love Vertigo. The perfect Hitchcock movie with the hot sexy adorable blonde with a great suspense/thriller and humor all in the same movie. Like all great Hitchcock movies. And you see the real Kim Novak in it. As a goddess on the outside that every straight guy with eyes whose not blind should love, but who is very vulnerable on the inside. Even though she doesn’t has any real reason to be.

Los Angeles Times: Patrick Kevin Day- Kim Novak- Hollywood Star Walk

Source:The Daily Review 

When I think of pure beauty, grace, class, realism, adorableness, Kim Novak is not the only actress I think of, but she’s certainly one of my favorites. I don’t know of another actress who was that hot, baby-faced adorable and that well-built and that real. A hot 5’6 women with a great body and whose also baby-faced adorable, who played all of her roles as if she’s playing herself. If you judge an actress by how real and believable their character is, meaning do the you believe the actress playing the women or not, that alone would make Kim Novak not just one of the best actress’s of her generation that includes Angie Dickinson, Sophia Loren, Dyan Cannon, Liz Taylor and many others, Grace Kelly, but one of the best actress’s of all-time.

And I believe what makes Kim even better is that the women that she played most of the time tended to be very different from who she is in real-life. Kim, was somewhat shy and lacking in self-confidence and never quite sure of herself. Which was perfect for her in Vertigo where she plays Madeline who is very similar in personality. But look at The Man With The Golden Arm with Frank Sinatra and she’s playing the cool always sure of herself character. Whose trying to save a drug addict and gambler played by Sinatra, from himself. Which is my point about Kim that she was so good at playing her characters even people who were very different from herself. But played them so well as if she was playing herself.

I’m not saying Kim Novak is Lauren Bacall, or Liz Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward, but probably in the next group, or the one right after that if not the second one. Because she sort of burned out by the late 1960s and attempted a few comebacks after that without achieving the great roles that she use to have. Had she still been doing well in Hollywood in the 1970s and 1980s, maybe we’re talking about an actress who belongs in the first group of greatest actress’s of all-time. But for her time in the 1950s through the mid 1960s she was one of the best and best looking in Hollywood. And landed a lot of great movies and roles because of that. And someone who clearly belongs in the Hollywood Hall of Fame, or the equivalent of that.

Rod Willerton: Hollywood & the Stars: In Search of Kim Novak

Source:The Daily Review

Kim Novak, is Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, except that she grew up. She might not be as versatile an entertainer as Marilyn and Jayne when it comes to comedy and music, but physically she's right there with both of them, but she grew up. A hot baby-face adorable sexy blonde goddess, but she grew up and matured and was a women in Hollywood. Not someone with the body of a women, but the mind and personality of a teenage girl like Marilyn and Jayne. Who never grew up inside and could never see how valuable and great they could have been as entertainers. And a big reason why they both died in their mid thirties in the 1960s.

It is rare you have an actress that is physically this talented with this body, face and voice, but is also a hell of an actress. Who I believe was a classic real or personal actress where she made all of her characters real and became all of them and brought them to real-life. I think what made Kim a great actress is that she made her acting look so real. She literally became the person she was playing and made it look like she wasn't acting at all. And I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that she tended to play characters who she had a lot in common with. Who were physically gorgeous, sexy and very cute, but lacked self-confidence and not quite sure they belong where they were, or even knew that they wanted to be there at all. Playing Madeline in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, is a perfect example of that.

Kim, has also played characters that were gorgeous, sexy and adorable, but knew exactly who they were and what they wanted. Like in Boys Night Out, where she plays Cathy, who was a college student doing an article on the middle-age married man in New York. The other thing that I respect about Kim Novak is that acting wasn't who she was, but what she did. Similar to Ava Gardner, she didn't live to act, but acted to live the lifestyle that she wanted. She didn't need to be a star, but happened to be really good at what she did and was a goddess as well which made her a star. She would have been perfectly comfortable living on the water in Northern California her whole adult life just as long as she could afford to do that. Which is where her acting career came in, but didn't need to be an actress to be happy. She is truly special and I just wish she acted more.

Falcon Crest Blog: Entertainment Tonight, Kim Novak Interview in 1985

Source:The New Democrat

There were a lot of Hollywood bombshells produced by the Silent Generation, people born in the 1930s and even mid to late 1920s. Actress’s like Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield and yes Kim Novak and several others. But only two of them are still alive today and only two of them even made it to their sixties. Angie Dickinson and Kim Novak.

Why, because these women weren’t just Hollywood goddess’ and bombshells. They weren’t just gorgeous baby-face sexy women, who by the way can also act a little. Angie and Kim are good actress’s who are also gorgeous, baby-face adorable and sexy. And they were also mature and intelligent, they knew how to take care of themselves and make careers for themselves. And not just live off of their stardom from early on. But use their stardom to make big careers for themselves. Kim Novak actually left Hollywood voluntarily and then came back briefly in the 1980s. Because she didn’t need it to feel successful and important in life.

Chatham 43: Ricahard Dingley Interview of Kim Novak (1956)

Source:The Daily Press 

The mid and late-1950s was probably Kim Novak’s career at its peak. She essentially left Hollywood by 1970, for a brief return in the mid 1980s. Not that she had to because could’ve easily remained a star through her sixties and she was only twenty-three in 1956. She could probably still be acting today, because she’s still very healthy and still looks great. But in 1955 and 56, she gets The Man With The Golden Arm, Picnic and then two-years later in 1958 Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. She was on a role a Hollywood goddess who not only looked the part, but got great substantial roles and performed beautifully in them. Not an actress who was simply a star because of her sex appeal and physical beauty, which she certainly had a lot of both anyway. But she was also a hell of an actress who I wish chose to have a long career.