- cocksucker
- I''d like to see the Susan Blakely TV movie about her. Anyone know where to find it?
- She was a brilliant woman who had a high IQ. She was in the wrong business and lived in the wrong time. She was way ahead of her time in her ideology and numerous other things. She couldn''t handle the corruption she saw in Hollywood. Her mother was just an evil person. Frances had a nervous breakdown and had to be checked into a mental asylum. Her mother brought tourists to show off her daughter and say I''m a mother of a star. In addition, her mother did other things that added to her mental illness. Frances Farmer was gang rapped by the asylum orderlies and wardens. Then they gave her lobotomy, which ultimately ruined her life. Toward the end of her life she lived alone in a home near the beach where she felt at peace. She had a real awful life.
- Do you expect me, for one moment, to believe you have greater insight into my per%C3%82%C2%ADsonality than I do?
- The lobotomy has been disputed. Lots of Electric Shock Therapy, though, and the asylum rapes did happen.
- R2, that is a much better version than the version with Jessica Lang. The Susan Blakely TV movie explains much more about Frances Farmer''s life and her mental illness than Jessica Lang''s version.
- The structure of the Lange movie was lousy as were the production values and the bizarre Sam Shepard narration. Is Blakely''s performance on par with Lange''s?
- [quote]Frances Farmer was gang rapped by the asylum orderlies and wardens. %0D\
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They had rap music back then?
Snatchin'' yo people up
- Absolutely R4. If you were more analytical, it might be different, of course.
- [quote]Frances Farmer was gang rapped by the asylum orderlies and wardens.\
\
I thought that bit was debunked.
- FRANCES FARMER WAS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS!!!!!!!!
- Here is an essay called "Shedding Light on Shadowland" which debunks a lot of the myths that were created for "Shadowland" (the book on which the movie is based.)
http://jeffreykauffman.net/francesfarmer/sheddinglight.html
- I read her book, "Will There Ever Be a Tomorrow?" or something like that, and in the book she describes the first moments when she was put into the asylum. She was taken to a holding cell with another woman and inside was an old man. Soon the old man began farting, and then SPLAT! He shit his pants. She began choking and gagging. It was HELL.\
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Years later, a stray cat somehow got into the ward and those fucking crazy dames ripped this poor cat apart.\
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And then after she was out she lived with this woman and it pretty much seemed like they were a couple. She never said they were, but it pretty much seemd that way.
- The lobotomy never happened. \
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However, Kenneth Anger wrote in ''Hollywood Babylon'' that Frances''s mother "wiggled her fat ass down to Hollywood, had her daughter declared mentally incompetent and signed the commitment papers." Pretty accurate on that front.
- She''ll come back as fire, And burn all the liars,\
leave a blanket of ash on the ground
Kurt Cobain
- FRANCES FARMER WILL HAVE HER REVENGE ON SEATTLE!!!!!
- [quote]Soon the old man began farting, and then SPLAT! He shit his pants. She began choking and gagging. It was HELL.\
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Sounds hilarious to me!
Fart Troll
- r4 is quoting the movie r9.
- momma drew up the contract...so I''m here
Frances in the bin
- Not revenge at all.
- "Terribly, terribly sorry; I overslept. What''s the name of this fine \
\\tentertainment we''re all so involved in? Oh yes. "No Escape." That''s it. \
\\tThere''s no escape."
- Susan Blakely Clips
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084907/board/thread/108472594
- i just watched FRANCES streaming on netflix yesterday. how topical.
- Little sister. Little sister, this is going to be out of my hands.\
\
It isn''t in your hands mother.
- r9, had Frances'' lobotomy for her. Way to be a fan!!
No. 2 FAN!!!!!!
- R13, In 1960 my mother was a 19 yr old nursing student in NJ. she had to work a few weeks at a mental hospital/asylum as part of her training. She said it was truly like a snake pit. Old ladies sitting in their own waste all day. Big recreation type rooms full of seriously, seriously mentally ill people. There were patients that were talking to themselves,talking to the walls,screaming, rocking back and forth all day long. Half of the patients were put in chairs and tied down with restraints for the whole day.%0D\
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My mom cried and told me she felt so bad for the little old ladies. A lot of the patients were dumped in there by their families or didn''t have families. A person could go to the asylum with minor problems but by being exposed to all of that day in and day out it turned them completely insane.
- And now we just turn them loose and let them wander around our cities. We''ve come so far...
- awesome
http://www.francesfarmersrevenge.com/
- Well....
Ronald Reagan
- That is awful r26.
- I have an old video of the movie "Frances." I watched it again recently, and it's pretty bad.%0D
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Lange's performance was incredibly overrated. Her whispery, lisping voice is terrible and frequently barely audible. Her acting is adequate, nothing more. But roles like this one are almost a shoo-in for an Oscar nom, and Lange got one. %0D
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The best performance in the film is Kim Stanley's as Lillian Farmer. Stanley too was Oscar nominated for her performance. I think she should have won. %0D
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Probably the worst thing about the movie was Sam Shepard as "Harry", a lovesick reporter who follows Frances around like a puppy dog her entire life, popping up throughout the movie to spring Frances from the nuthouse periodically. "Harry" never existed. If only Frances Farmer HAD someone like that in her life. There were many fictions in the movie, but "Harry" was the worst. The movie's director said by way of explanation "we didn't want to nickel and dime people to death with facts."%0D
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As for Farmer herself, well, she was probably her own worst enemy. As a teenager she wrote an essay about how she found out that God was dead and wondered why other people didn't realize that; that didn't make her too many friends. And she went to Russia at a time when Russia and Russians were considered evil incarnate. When she came back she claimed that Russia was a facinating place and that "my sympathy and support are all for Russia." That got her labeled a Commie. When in Hollywood she refused to play the Hollywood starlet (she was ahead of her time in that regard) was said to be "uncooperative." She was not exactly stable emotionally and was prone to lash out verbally and or physically when agitated. She was really a mess. And due to her own behavior, some very, very bad luck and a wacko mother she ended up in an asylum that was a true living hell.%0D
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She wasn't lobotomized. But after being released from the snake pit she was never really the same again. She had a couple of awful marriages. She had a drinking problem. She hosted a local tv show for a while; after than ended she and her "friend (lover?)" Jean Ratcliffe tried to start a small business but that went kaput. She died in her fifties of throat cancer. A very sad, tortured life.%0D
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You can talk about people like Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Dandridge and how tragic their lives were, but none of them came anywhere close to the tragedy that was the life of Frances Farmer.
- I don''t think Lange''s performance was lousy at all in the movie.
- [quote]I have an old video of the movie "Frances." I watched it again recently, and it''s pretty bad.\
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[quote]Lange''s performance was incredibly overrated. Her whispery, lisping voice is terrible and frequently barely audible. Her acting is adequate, nothing more. But roles like this one are almost a shoo-in for an Oscar nom, and Lange got one. \
\
I agree. Lange''s performances are usually what you described which is why I don''t understand why she is so highly regarded in some circles. I can name dozens and dozens of other actresses who are better.
- She was a victim of her time for sure
http://acertaincinema.pemomo.com/workspace/media/frances-farmer-makeup-come-and-get-it.jpg
- Bipolar & borderline - so yeah cray
- Frances Farmer was a bi-polar, maybe schizo, sometimes lesbian. It's very simple.
- Lol 36!
So simple?
:)
Below there is a charming photo of Frances Farmer from the movie 'Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake'
http://www.classicfilmfreak.com/wp-content/uploads2/2008/12/sonoffury-00-14-24997.jpg
- I remember the Susan Blakely TV movie"Will There Really Be a Morning?", watching most of it. It was on around the same time that the film came out, wasn't it?
- A little of both.
- Neither. She was all rebel.
- I found this link interesting
http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/F/FrancesFarmer/FrancesFarmer.htm
- Wow, I had no idea that Frances Bean Cobain was named for Frances Farmer.
- Totally agree, R33. I like her, but I don't see why some on DL going into hysterics over her.
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I am posting the sad and disturbing and smarmy "This is You Life" episode that was done with Fraces Farmer in 1958.
I love Jessica Lange and will leave if for some other time, but in Frances she does this small head gesture, a turning and looking away with a reretful or perhaps bitter smile. The gesture is so unique, touching and disturbing.
You can see that exact movement in the real Frances Farmer here, trying to maintain her dignity, going through some motions of glossing over memories... it is sad and fascinating.
You can also see her troubles and her suppressed anger at the chiding presentation of her illness, and the condescending judgement of Ralph Edwards.
Her sisters seem to have loved her and she was diagnosed as schizophrenic. The complexities of her life are all glossed over of course she must renounce her rebellious intelligent spirit and embrace god and be given a BRAND NEW CAR!
It is kind of disgusting. Can't help but feel her humiliation and sadness, and be fascinated by the fleeting emotions that cross her face. Defiance, amusement, practiced composure, and it appears that she would like to call bullshit.
She tries to advocate for better Mental Health care and goes along with the tale of redemption and being cured. So Americans can better sleep that night. She is not lobotomized, but she has been sanitized and dirtied at once.
Yeah, she was a bit of both.
http://youtu.be/F6hOO-AZHk4
one%20truthful%20gesture%20is%20better%20than%20many%20Meryl%20accents
- I love Farmer in COME AND GET IT and it's a shame she never had a chance like that again.
I haven't seen FRANCES in years but I recall that the whole thing seemed to lack good lighting and looked cheap. I think Lange got the nomination because she came back after the disaster that was KING KONG. And she had some critical success the year before in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE but wasn't nominated.
- Uh ... no, r45, Lange got the nomination because she was brilliant in FRANCES. If Streep hadn't been pre-ordained the winner for Sophie's Choice, Lange would have won.
- I love Lange's performance in "Frances". I think she was incredible.
The biggest tragedy was her psycho mother having so much legal control over her life. I can't imagine what a hell that would be. She had the power to send her back to the bin whenever she wanted and lorded it over her.
Frances must have been such an interesting person. I love her essay she wrote as a high school girl (linked) I believe the film starts with it?
So much beauty and talent that was never properly appreciated.
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm%3FDisplayPage%3Doutput.cfm%26file_id%3D4008
- Life is cruel
http://www.vintageculture.net/images/frances-farmer-arrest1.JPG
- Frances Farmer and her pitbull dog, Karl Marx (1937)
http://acertaincinema.pemomo.com/workspace/media/frances-farmer-and-her-pitbull-dog-karl-marx-1937.jpg
- Oscar Homolka, Frances Farmer and Ray Milland between scenes of 'Ebb Tide'
http://acertaincinema.pemomo.com/workspace/media/oscar-homolka-frances-farmer-ray-milland-between-scenes-of-ebb-tide.jpg
- That "memoir" of hers called "Will There Really Be A Morning?" is bogus. Originally Frances had been collaborating with a writer in order to create an autobiography, but the writer had to stop work on it due to being sent on some other assignment. After France's death her roommate Jean Radcliffe took up the task; "Will There Really Be A Morning?" is mostly a lot of lurid tales thought up by Jean Radcliffe. She even dedicated the book to herself! The writing is REALLY bad, and the book contains an unbelieveably repulsive scene describing a bull dyke attendant's lesbian rape of a helpless mental patient.
- Lol R51
Alright!
- Beautiful women often have a tragic and sad ending.
- France Farmer, 1930s
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kpbn83WeXX1qzued7o1_500.jpg
