Good Heavens: All That Heaven Allows (1955)

All That Heaven Allows (1955) is a classic Douglas Sirk melodrama. It was the second time Sirk paired stars Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson together, the first time being in Magnificent Obsession (1954). The story is about a wealthy widow (Jane Wyman) whose two children are college-bound and she finds herself falling in love with her much younger gardener (Rock Hudson) to the dismay of the uppity society she exists in. It's a shame that I had to sum up such a fantastic movie with such a pathetic boiled down sentence such as that one, but there it is.

This film does what a social drama should do; expose the injustices of a society, whether it be society at large or a particular type of society. In this case, it's the suburban, upper-crust, country club society of the 1950's. The main character, the widow Cary, is oblivious to such injustices until she gets to know and falls in love with her gardener Ron. Sometimes it takes someone from a different world for one to understand one's own world; it allows for a sort of eye-opening introspection. This film was cast off as simple weepy melodrama for many years until people began to understand the film's underlying social commentary.

Some who watch the film may think it's over-the-top, but I think it's quite an effective movie. We are first introduced into Cary's world, then we fall in love with Ron and learn to appreciate his rebellion and then we hate everyone who is trying to keep Cary and Ron apart. And c'mon, who wouldn't fall in love with Rock Hudson? What's more romantic than seeing him feeding a lone deer on a snowy morning? If that isn't enough to make a gal weak in the knees, I don't know what is.

I read the featured article on this film on TCM's website and found out something about the film I hadn't been aware of before. To demonstrate Cary's entrapment in her world, Jane Wyman is often shown "framed" whether it be a mirror, window, doorway, etc. My favorite is the shot of her framed in the television which is presented to her as a future "companion".

And watch for a older Conrad Nagel in the film, playing the role of Harvey, Cary's would-be suitor.

Christmas Movie Consumption

I didn't quite overdose like I did last year (see my previous post about that) but I did manage to squeeze in a good number of movies during the Christmas break. I still have another week of movie-viewing which I'll consider my New Year's Movie Consumption.

The surprising thing is that I didn't watch Christmas Carol (1938). I have an annual tradition of reading the classic Dickens book (this one is the best edition) and viewing the original film. This year I skipped both. I felt like this was by no means a traditional Christmas, so I kept to non-traditional movies instead.

Dr. No (1962) ~ My introduction to the world of Bond, James Bond.

Get Smart (2008) ~ What a disappointment!

The Naked City (1948) ~ Excellent! A post about this is sure to come.

Christmas in Connecticut (1945) ~ Dennis Morgan! ::sigh::

Love, Actually (2003) ~ Dip it in yogurt, and cover it with chocolate buttons!

Holiday Affair (1949) ~ It's a Mitchum Christmas.

Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) ~ One of the sexiest films I've seen, ever!

Fortune Cookie (1966) - It's great, once you get through the first 30 minutes.

Breathless (1961) ~ Working on an essay for this one.

Bachelor Mother (1939) ~ And I'll watch it next week too!

So what did you guys watch during Christmas?

Good Heavens!

I've decided to do a short series in tribute to all those classic films that contain "Heaven" in the title. Why? Because they always get mangled in my brain and I confuse one title with the other. Watching each and writing about them will help me sort them in my mind. Plus it will be a fun project.

It often feels like there are hundreds of "Heaven" movies. Perhaps because there are also so many contemporary ones. However, there are really only 5 main ones (and various lesser-known ones). And they are...

1. All This, and Heaven Too (1940) - Bette Davis & Charles Boyer
2. All That Heaven Allows (1956) - Rock Hudson & Jane Wyman
3. Heaven Can Wait (1943) - Gene Tierney & Don Ameche
4. Heaven Knows, Mrs. Allison (1957) - Robert Mitchum & Deborah Kerr
5. Leave Her to Heaven (1946) - Gene Tierney & Cornel Wilde

How many of the "Heaven" movies have you seen? Which one is your favorite?

I'm going to guess that Ginger's favorite is #5? Seeing as it has her favorite actress plus her current crush.

Stay tuned for more!

The Case of the Robert Mitchum Look-a-Like

My good friend Kevin invited me to his office's annual Christmas party. His invitation included promises to meet his fellow co-workers, to have an official tour of the office, to imbibe a few drinks, to eat a few h'or dourves and to meet a young man who looks like Robert Mitchum. Robert Mitchum?! I couldn't quite believe my ears. No one looks like Robert Mitchum, except for... well... Robert Mitchum. The only exceptions would be his direct offspring, as is the case when you see Robert Mitchum side-by-side with his son James in Thunder Road (1958). Otherwise, Mitchum has just got too unusual a face for it to exist anywhere else.

His eyes were sad, slightly bulbous with drooping eyelids. It gave him a brooding and melancholy appearance. His face was heart-shaped, square and broad at the brow, narrowing on its way down to the chin. His nose had a smooth forward slope that broke off in the middle into a downward slant. His lips were soft and flat and almost unremarkable until he broke it out into one of his rare smiles that were as charming as they were alarming. And the piece de resistance, the dimple. Oh that wonderful little dimple planted just perfectly in the middle of his chin. While Cary Grant's chin looked like a women's derriere, Mitchum's chin looks like an angel had touched it and left the dimple in its stead. It was just glorious. Robert Mitchum's look was a kind unto its own.



So when I was chatting away at the party, swirling a glass of sauvignon blanc in my hand, Kevin alerted me to the fact that Robert Mitchum's doppelganger stood directly behind me. I was excited to see him but was skeptical too. I was casual about it and slowly scanned the room until I spotted him. I'm sure my eyes must have widened with surprise when they fell upon his face. He was the young, contemporary, fresh-faced version of Robert Mitchum. The heart-shaped face, the sad eyes, the broken nose, they were all there. The lips were thin and weak and there was no dimple but alas we can't have it all. I looked away, slightly embarassed but terribly intrigued.

As the party progressed, I met various people, all of them friendly yet none of them looked quite like a movie star the way he did, with the exception of one very pleasant woman who had a passing resemblance to a young Goldie-Hawn. And at one point I was told I looked like Rose-McGowan. Then I met the Robert Mitchum look-a-like. Kevin introduced me to him and we shook hands. He was quite striking to look at but his young masculine bravado was a bit off-putting. Kevin managed to work in the name "Robert Mitchum" and the film Out of the Past (1947) in to the conversation, albeit briefly, and he seemed to have not noticed the references. I wonder if he knew who Robert Mitchum was at all. This young man may very well be oblivious to the fact that he carries with him the face of a legendary screen star. Or he might have not been listening very intently to the conversation because it was evident that he had had a few beers at that point. It was his ever-reddening eyes that betrayed him.

The eyes. I have to elaborate on those. They were pretty fixed on Kevin as he was the one of interest in the conversation. Yet ever so often they would travel to my eyes and then, with a lack of grace or even rudimentary shame, to my decolletage. I was slightly unsettled by these glances but I would expect such attentions from an ambitious, young, hot-blooded professional man. Especially one who had been drinking. I thought to myself, "would Robert Mitchum have looked at my decolletage?" And my answer was, "of course he would!" Mitchum appreciated the ladies but he would have been much more sly about it. His eyes would have had the appearance of looking at mine while the whole time they were really looking at a region further below. Or the glances would have occurred when my eyes were turned away, so I wouldn't have noticed. Robert Mitchum was smooth not obvious, unlike his contemporary.

A few words were then spoken and we parted with Robert Mitchum's look-a-like. Thoughts reeled through my head, aided by the wine and I knew that I had to share such a story with my fellow classic film fans. And with Kevin, who enjoyed the encounter as much as I did.

Additional note: The Cary Grant comment comes from Marc-Eliot's biography of the actor. I didn't make it up, no matter how much I wish I did.