Born to Kill (1947) @ Chez Kevin

On Sunday night, a few friends came over to Chez Kevin for dessert and a movie. Just this past October, Kevin had purchased his first home. A condo; the first floor in a historic Queen Anne style home. I am not exaggerating when I say that everyone who sees Kevin's place is absolutely gobsmacked. The home is filled with character, has a gorgeous layout, nice big rooms and original Queen Anne details. My favorite details are the Queen Anne style tiles around one of his two fireplaces and an old-fashioned pencil sharpener. Kevin decorated it well with lots of nice furniture, candles and other special accents.

Before we watched the movie, I took some pictures of Kevin's place. He's got extensive collections of DVDs, books on movies as well as movie poster artwork. Here are some highlights:

Here is Kevin's main bookcase for his DVDs. Notice the painting on top? It's a commission painting done by the ultra-talented Kate Gabrielle of James Dean in Giant (1954). Kevin's always given me very thoughtful gifts, so for his last birthday I thought I'd do something special for him.

This is part of his collection of DVD boxed sets.

When Kevin was debating what movie to show, he considered Fellini's Nights of Cabiria (1957). He has a poster of the film in his living room.

Two of Kevin's favorite directors.

Here are some more movie posters (Italian). When you walk through Kevin's condo, there is no doubt that the person who lives there is a true film buff!

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After much debate as to what to show during the movie night, Kevin ultimately decided on Born to Kill (1947). He introduced it to us as a film noir, that is as dramatic as it is darkly humorous. I met Kevin a couple years ago when I was a student in his film noir class, so for him to show a film in this genre for his first official movie night was a special treat for me.

I hadn't seen Born to Kill before so I was looking forward to watching a film new to me.

Or so I thought.

Born to Kill (1947) stars Claire Trevor and Lawrence Tierney. Trevor is a divorcee who witnesses the aftermath of a murder committed by Tierney. She is both terrified and entranced with Tierney, tapping into her own murderous and evil tendencies. Trevor is engaged to a rich man in order to gain her own financial freedom from her rich foster-sister, Audrey Long. Tierney punishes Trevor by marrying Long and using her for his own selfish purposes.

As I was watching the film, certain things seemed awfully familiar. Then when I saw actress Isabell Jewell, who plays Laury Palmer, I had a vision of her lying, prostrate on the floor, dead, the camera focusing on her shoes. At one point, I wanted to point at the television and proclaim "She gets murdered! I remember her shoes!". Alas, I held my tongue so as to not ruin the movie for anyone. It's not much of a spoiler, considering most of the story is based on the investigation of her murder, but it would have been rude otherwise. When the image I had in mind popped up on the screen, I knew that indeed I had seen this film.

Isn't it amazing that one can watch a film, forget all about it with the exception of one solitary image? That seems to happen to me a lot.

Some topics of conversation from pre-show and post-show bonding.

1) Lawrence Tierney was an intimidating man. Onscreen and off.

2) Lawrence Tierney once played Elaine's dad on Seinfeld.

3) In the late 1940s, folks were fascinated by evil women. This explains why so many films during this era showcased femme fatales.

4) Costume Designer Edward Stevenson had a penchant for strange hats and head-dresses as well assymetrical clothing.

5) Engagements were unusually short in those days.

6) The popcorn that Lisa brought in from Trader Joe's was absolutely delicious!

Thanks again to Kevin for such a great movie night! I'm looking forward to his next one.

ALERT to all Classic Film Bloggers

A Google Alert for keywords "Charles Emmett Mack" alerted me to the fact that http://pakway.blogspot.com and it's mirror site http://guromusic.blogspot.com have stolen entire posts from my site. I have gone through the site thoroughly, identified all of my blog posts and have written to the blog administrator asking that my posts be removed immediately. He asked specifically for which links to remove. I have also found other film blogger's content on there as and I made sure I contacted them directly about their content being stolen.

I have alerted other folks on Twitter but thought I'd make an announcement here.

This person is continuously adding new content to his blog so your blog may be next. Check your stats. If you see IP Address 119.152.53.101 from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan in your stats, then assume the blog thief in question is trying to steal your content.

This person has a disclaimer at the bottom of the posts that says that what he is doing is not illegal. If your content is not copyrighted, it's really a free for all. Take the opportunity to add a copyright disclaimer at the bottom of your blog and on the RSS feed of your individual posts.

Don't take the "Oh I'm sorry for you, but I'm glad it didn't happen to me" stance. Even if it hasn't happened yet, it can happen in the future.

And if you find someone else's content stolen, please stick up for them! Let them know about their content being stolen and complain on their behalf. We have to stick together as a community of bloggers. We all work really hard on our blogs and we can't allow scrap bloggers to leech off of us like this.

God Speed Jean Simmons (1929-2010) & a New Bundle of Joy

Here are some tributes posted by other bloggers:

What Jean Simmons meant to me... ~ ClassicForever - This one is particularly touching and Millie created a very sweet tribute video.

Jean Simmons - In Memoriam ~ Another Old Movie Blog
RIP Jean Simmons, 1929-2010 ~ The Classic Film Show
Jean Simmons Dies at Age 80 ~ Laura's Miscellaneous Musings
Rest in Peace Jean Simmons ~ Dreaming in Black & White

Added 1/24

The Late, Great Jean Simmons ~ A Shroud of Thoughts
R.I.P Jean Simmons ~ Thrilling Days of Yesteryear
In Memoriam: Jean Simmons, 1929-2010 ~ The Self-Styled Siren
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With the passing of one person, comes the birth of another. A special congratulations to Jonas of All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing! who's fiancee just gave birth to their sweet little daughter, Juni, yesterday. Stop by his personal blog Lokomotivet for a picture of the little bundle of joy.

He Made Me Watch It ~ Chinatown (1974) @ the Brattle

I know I know, it's the wrong decade for me. I usually avoid the 70s like the plague. But the film takes place in 1937 and it's as historically accurate as it could be, so I'm letting that slide.


Me? A Film Buff? More like a Film Bluff if you ask me.

I'm really tired of being the person who claims to have extensive knowledge of classic films but has yet to see many of the classic classics. Those films that everyone and their mother has seen and permanently reside on important lists like the AFI's top 100. I'm embarassed to admit that I haven't seen Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Bonnie & Clyde (1967), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), West Side Story (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), 12 Angry Men (1957), among others. Every decade has some classics that I've avoided for whatever stupid reason I have come up with. My biggest excuse is that it's popular. I've always been a bucker of trends and the additional layer of popularity on the film is like that nasty icing on a cupcake that you have to eat through to get to the cake (or you remove it like I do).

So I've been very very very open-minded lately. Carlos suggested we see Chinatown (1974) on the big screen and I immediately acquiesced. It's not even really He Made Me Watch It but more like He Subtly Suggested It and I Immediately Jumped on the Bandwagon.

I came to Chinatown (1974) with almost no prior knowledge except for the fact that it starred Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway and that the film has won critical acclaim and some Oscars. I'm very glad that I hadn't because I came with no preconceived notions and the film to me was fresh and new.

Carlos, Kevin, Lisa and I saw Chinatown (1974) at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square on Wednesday night. Chinatown is a favorite of both Carlos and Kevin but Lisa and I were both newbies. Although I was very tired and perhaps didn't pick up all the details of the complex plot like I could have if I had been perky, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Much of what I liked of it was that it felt more like 1937 than 1974, which I appreciated. The style of the film was very noir but seeing as the movie was shot in post-Hayes Code days, they could take a lot more liberty with sexuality which I thought was interesting. I've always been fascinated with the abuse of power when it comes to natural resources, like water, and this film focuses on the redirection of water in Los Angeles during a late summer drought.

I was happy to see that many folks came out on a Wednesday night to see Chinatown at the Brattle. A few folks laughed during a scene they found particularly campy (the Daughter-Sister-Slapping scene with Dunaway and Nicholson), but I chalked that up to their unfortunate ignorance and incapacity to understand the film. I have absolutely no patience for people who mock classic films. Those people should not even be allowed to see these films in public, in my honest opinion. They couldn't ruin my night though, I had a blast.

Stay tuned to this space as Carlos makes me watch another film on the big screen!