Monday, August 27, 2007
John Wayne: His Private Secretary (1933)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Breaking the Code: Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
After viewing this film recently for the first time, I wondered how much of the story is representative (or at least symbolic) of the fight against the Code? Take for example, Elizabeth Taylor's character, Catherine. The previous summer she had witnessed the most utterly grotesque sequence of events that culminated in the horrific death of her manipulative cousin, Sebastian. After her return from Europe, the story is held inside her tormented mind and she is consquentially punished for the danger the truth she holds represents to others. Katharine Hepburn plays Violet, Sebastian's mother, whose incestuous relationship with her son lends to her desperate need to keep Sebastian's image alive and well - one even may say "pure". Catherine threatens to tarnish the image with the tale of Sebastian's last summer in Europe and Violet wants to literally rip the story out of her brain, by means of employing Dr. Curkowicz, played by Montgomery Clift, to perform a lobotomy.
[potential spoilers ahead]
Catherine is the owner of a story that needs to be told and encounters a long and difficult path to become the story's teller. When she is finally able to give birth to the story, the experience is painful, ensuiing in screams and sobs but in the end healing. Violet, the censor, the person still alive who is most threatened by this story is not capable of handling it after repressing it for so long.
Catherine - Story - Hollywood
Violet - Censor - Hays Code
Does anyone see the connection? I tend not to think this was in any way on purpose but it was probably a subconscious for of rebellion. It could also be the English major in me just looking for something to analyze. Who knows? What I do know is this film is unquestionably part of Hollywood's break from the code.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Breaking the Code
Popular Posts
-
New year, new books! 2024 is your year to read more film books and there are plenty of new ones coming out for you to enjoy. There is lots h...
-
Little Elbert Coplen Jr. went on to make a splash in Hollywood that didn’t last past the toddler stage. At the tender age of 8 ...
-
Colorization One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World by Wil Haygood Knopf 464 pages October 2021 Hardcover ISBN: 9780525656876 Ama...
-
Holiday Affair (1949) Janet Leigh's film career began when retired actress Norma Shearer saw a photograph of the young Leigh dressed i...