Lauren Bacall & Ruth Gordon in Perfect Gentlemen (1978)

This TV movie brought together the disperate talents of Bacall (in her first TV movie), Gordon, Sandy Dennis and Lisa Pelikan as 4 down on their luck ladies who decide to pull a heist. Will they succeed or get caught and join their husbands in prison? Also in the cast are Dick O'Neill and Robert Alda.

Though it's never been released on DVD commercially, you can find unauthorized copies floating around. Above is a promo for the film, uploaded to YouTube by robatsea2009.

Obscurity factor: 10 (hard to find, not on DVD, not well remembered by most)

Lauren Bacall, James Garner & Maureen Stapleton in The Fan (1981)

Sally Ross (Bacall) is embarking on a new facet of her career by starring in a Broadway musical. The stress of that endeavor is putting a strain on her relationships. It is under these circumstances that she must deal with the escalating problem of an obsessed fan. It begins with minor annoyances like multiple fan letters with a too familiar tone, but quickly develops into a real threat to her and the people who surround her. Will she live to see opening night?

MoviePosterShop.com

This film is one of those guilty pleasures that you secretly screen, but rarely admit to liking. It's trashy, but is aces in the suspense department. Michael Biehn is great as the psycho fan and Maureen Stapleton strikes the right note as Sally's assistant. The musical numbers have some fun camp value and look for a young Dana Delaney as a record store clerk.

This film is available on DVD. Above is the big musical number from the film, uploaded to YouTube by maxwellcaulfieldfan. It's rarely, if ever screened on TV now-a-days and has fallen off the radar somewhat.

Obscurity factor: 6 (dimly remembered, available on DVD)

Richard Widmark, Lauren Bacall & Gloria Grahame in The Cobweb (1955)

Obscurity factor: 2

This film is a wonderful psychological study of the lives of the patients and doctors and their families at a prestigious psychiatric clinic. The trouble centers around a new set of drapes for the library. Three solutions are put forward by three different parties, and due to a communication breakdown of monumental proportions the conflict leads to near tragedy. Vincente Minnelli and the cast do an excellent job of making that breakdown in communication seem to naturally stem from the flawed characters of the principal players. The subject matter of neuroses is sensitively handled, and what could have been cartoonish and unbelievable comes off as genuine and heart wrenching.

This film has something of a cult following, and is notable also for its soundtrack, which is composed in twelve tones and is quite striking. The cast is also stellar. In addition to Widmark, Bacall and Grahame look for Lillian Gish, Charles Boyer, Oscar Levant (in his last film role) a young Susan Strasberg, Mabel Albertson and the great Fay Wray in a small part as Charles Boyer's wife.

This film was just released on DVD in January of this year. It's currently out of stock at Amazon, but should be somewhat easy to find in the future. It's not available on YouTube. The trailer above is from TCM. The poster is available at MoviePosterShop.com

Obscurity factor: 2 (well known among film buffs, available on DVD)

Lauren Bacall & Larry Hagman in Applause (1973)

Obscurity factor: 9

Lauren Bacall made a big splash on Broadway in 1970 with Applause. It's the musical version of the Bette Davis classic All About Eve and it was a big enough hit to inspire this 1973 CBS Television special event. Also starring Larry Hagman (fresh off his success in I Dream of Jeannie) as Bill Sampson and Penny Fuller as Eve, the production lacks the luster of the Broadway success, but has some numbers that are great fun to watch and is noteworthy as the only taped record of Bacall's performance in the show.

Above: the Broadway cast album artwork

The story is a familiar one, established Broadway star Margot Channing (Bacall) takes little Eve Harrington (Fuller) under he wing. Eve charms all Margot's friends, but Margot begins to suspect that Eve is out to take her place. The musical numbers are full of great energy. My personal favorite is "But Alive" which is performed primarily in a gay bar - big news for 1973.

Bootleg copies of this have been passed around among friends and sold on iOffer.com for years now, but if you haven't been in the know it hasn't been available to you. Consider yourself in the know now. You can also find it uploaded in full to YouTube. Installment one is above.

Obscurity factor: 9 (only available on iOffer.com and YouTube)