A Classic Film Fan Travels to Indiana

I recently went on a business trip to Indiana. Whenever I travel, I leave my regular life behind in Massachusetts but somehow, on this particular trip, classic films seemed to follow me into the depths of the Midwest.

1) Hitchcock's Box of Mints


I was staying at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Brownsburg, Indiana during my trip. It is by far the best hotel I've stayed at in Indiana. The morning after my arrival, I woke up refreshed and ready for an early cup o' joe. A lady at the banquet area was passing out boxes of mints. Now I'm never one to turn down freebies, so I graciously accepted the tiny box. Each box had a trivia question on the back and the answer on the bottom. And wouldn't you figure, I got the box with a classic film question on it. It read:

Q: Where is the school in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds located?

A: Bodega Bay, CA

How cool is that?


2) Classic Film Networking


Whenever I meet new people, my love of classic films ends up working it's way into the conversation. It's inevitable. When I had dinner with my boss and some people from 2 other book publishers, I ended up talking to two women who just happen to be classic film fans. We talked about how much we loved TCM (and griped about how the best movies are shown at ungodly hours). I mentioned to one of the women how I loved her company's annual Movie Poster calendar and had been buying it religiously for the past 5-6 years. She offered to send me 2009's calendar, but I had already purchased it. I mentioned that I had a classic film blog and the other lady wanted me to send her the address so she could read it!


3) Knitting The Letter

I am a scaredy-cat flyer. There is no question about that. It doesn't matter that I've been flying since I was 20 days old (I got my first passport when I was 10 days old), itis still a terrifying experience for me. It's worse if I haven't flown in a while, and not having done so in over a year made this recent experience quite painful. Luckily, I had something to distract me. My friend Lisa recently taught me how to knit. I brought my knitting needles, ball of yarn, and scarf-in-progress to the airport. By some miracle, the TSA allows knitting needles on planes. We had two 3-hour delays and 2 2-hour flights in the span of 2 days, so needless to say I had a lot of downtime (which I sometimes refer to as freak-out time). Knitting helped me calm my nerves. The concentration on the different knots as well as the repetitive motions helped relax me. It put me in mind of Bette Davis' character Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1940). She played a married woman living in Malay who, having shot down her lover, was facing trial for said murder. Throughout the film you see her doing lacework to calm her nerves. When she finishes her project, she wears it in a pivotal scene.

Attorney Howard Joyce: [on the subject of her lacework] It must take enormous concentration and patience.

Leslie: I find it soothing.

Howard: You mean it... takes your mind off other things?

This just shows that over the past 6 years or so, classic films have really woven themselves into my life. And it's not so bad. Not so bad at all.

Leading Couples: Garbo and Gilbert

As I promised in my review of the new book Leading Couples, I watched the silent classic Flesh and the Devil (1926) to explore my fascination with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. The story is about two friends, Leo (Gilbert) and Ulrich, whose friendship is bound by blood with a ritual they performed as children on the Isle of Friendship. When Felicitas (Garbo), a temptress, falls in love with Leo, he is forced into a duel by her husband. Sent off to Africa, Ulrich takes care of Felicitas and marries her, not knowing Leo's previous romantic attachment to her. The triangle becomes a square as Ulrich's little sister, Hertha, is hopelessly in love with Leo. Can Leo and Ulrich's friendship survive Felicitas' temptations?

The love shared between the two men is so intense it borders on the homoerotic. Their love rivals that they share for Felicitas. It's quite interesting. Passion, in many forms, is the driving force of the story as well as the characters. Also, Gilbert and Garbo had such great chemistry that the screen seems to light up when they are together. They had a real-life romance on and off throughout the years they knew each other.

Two Moments of Eletricity

1) A cigarette in the garden.

Leo (Gilbert) says to Felicitas (Garbo) "You know... when you blow out the match... that's an invitation to kiss you." WOW! If only I could use that line in real life (any guys out there with matches handy?). Cigarettes are so symbolic in classic movies. They are one of the most important tools to show sexual attraction. And this scene is a great example of that.

2) The Den of Sin

Felicitas lures Leo into her "den of sin", as I like to call it. It's basically the bedroom in the home that she and her husband share. Here, hidden from the rest of the world, they proceed to be all up on each other. The scene is so long and it lingers on each kiss that the passion elevates to a sort of heightened eroticism. Hot!

Interesting Facts about Garbo & Gilbert from Leading Couples

1) Garbo never married. The one time she came close was when she left Gilbert at the altar. This may or may not be a rumor. Garbo fans, please let me know!

2) Garbo was a notoriously shy hermit. Gilbert was the only person who go her to come to a film premiere, Bardelys and the Magnificent (1926), and smile for the camera.

3) Garbo helped Gilbert get a talkie role when his star was falling. She insisted he be cast opposite her in Queen Christina (1934).

4) Gilbert alowed Garbo to share billing above the title in Flesh and the Devil (1926) (see above image), even though he could have sole billing.

5) Gilbert encouraged Garbo to host parities. She was the most sociable she had ever been when she was with him.

6) When Gilbert passed away, a rumor spread saying that Garbo's response was "What's that to me?" Garbo was so upset, that she held a press conference to denounce the rumor as false.

Otto Preminger Lecture 11/13/2008

What I learned at the Otto Preminger lecture (and from Kevin in general)...

1) Otto Preminger employed Dalton Trumbo to write the movie Exodus (1960), even though Trumbo was blacklisted.

2) Leonard Maltin once said something to the effect of: Otto the director should tell Otto the actor not to overact.

3) Otto did two all black musicals, both starring Dorothy Dandridge. Carmen Jones (1955) and Porgy & Bess (1959).

4) It's speculated amongst film historians that Dana Andrews was Otto's favorite actor. They made 5 films together.

5) Otto often kept the camera on groups of people. He was an objective filmmaker and trusted the audience's intelligence to form opinions of their own. You'll see very few reaction shots in Preminger films.

6) Otto was all about realism. He also liked to cast real life people in their real life roles in his movies. For example, the conductor Shorty Rogers and his band Shorty Rogers and His Giants were in the film The Man with the Golden Arm (1956).

7) Jean Simmons had 4 weeks left of her RKO contract with Howard Hughes and had to make Angel Face (1953) against her wishes. Otto was hired since he was very efficient. Simmons cut her hair in protest.

8) In the film Laura (1944), an artist had done a painting that was to be used as a central point in the film. When Otto took on the project, he got rid of that painting and had Gene Tierney photographed. The photo was painted over to make it look like a real painting.

9) Martin Luther King, Jr. was asked by Otto to play a cameo role in Advise & Consent (1962). He was interested, but ultimately declined due to negative publicity that ensued from the offer.


Below is a picture of Kevin (left), me (middle) and Bob (right) shortly before the lecture started. Close friends Frank and Blythe attended too. The lecture turned out great. Kevin managed to provide a lot of information in just an hour. He showed clips from Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder and Fallen Angel and had a kick-ass Powerpoint presentation. Go Kevin!