Warner Archive Wednesday ~ Dancing Co-Ed (1939)

What a rush it is to discover a movie that becomes a new favorite. I love that feeling, the moment of discovery, the wash of pleasure that passes over you and the settling in of contentment.

Dancing Co-Ed is from the golden year of 1939. There must have been something magical in the water in Hollywood in 1939 because it was consistently a good year for movies, even B ones.

Dancing Co-Ed (1939) is an MGM production starring Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, Ann Rutherford (she was the last surviving cast member when she passed away last year) and features popular musician Artie Shaw, Lana Turner's soon-to-be first husband.

The Dancing Tobins are a married dancing duo who are famous for their movies. When ToddyTobin announcing she's expecting their first child, it leaves Freddy Tobin without a dance partner for their upcoming movie Dancing Co-Ed. Producer Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) has promised Patty (Lana Turner) a part in the picture but now it all seems unlikely. Drews, under pressure to make the film without a major star, comes up with the idea of a college contest in which unknowns try out for the part in the movie. They'll send Artie Shaw and his Orchestra to perform at the college and it would get the movie studio great publicity. But Joe Drews and Freddy Tobin don't want to risk the movie being a flop so they chose a dancer to replace Mrs. Tobin and plant her at a college so she can pretend to be a student, enter the contest and win. And that dancer is Lana Turner's Patty.

It's a "potato of an idea"! Joe Drews sends Patty with his secretary Eve (Ann Rutherford) who will accompany her as a student, keep an eye out for her and help her with all the academic stuff. At the college they meet Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson), a college student and editor of the school's newspaper The Porcupine. He thinks the contest is a scam and is investigating it. But he also has a crush on Patty not knowing she's the contest's plant. While rehearsals and auditions are going on, Patty has to keep Pug off her back. She comes up with a new potato of an idea that she'll "help" Pug with his investigation so that she'll be ruled out. It all becomes a lovely complicated mess as the big contest date looms.

Dancing Co-Ed is charming and fun. It has collegiate culture, dance, music, romance, a little bit of drama and a delightful, light-footed and well-dressed Lana Turner. I love the conceit and the actors are all wonderful especially Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford and Leon Errol who plays Patty's showbiz father. It's hard for me to articulate why I adore this movie so. I'm still trying to pinpoint my decade long love affair with Bachelor Mother (1939) so I imagine this one will not be easy either.

This movie reminds me a little bit of The Disenchanted, the Budd Schulberg novel I recently reviewed, with it's Hollywood meets College campus theme. 

Dancing Co-Ed (1939) is available on DVD from Warner Archive. I rented this film from Classicflix but I'm going to buy it on my next Warner Archive purchase.

The Jelly Jar seems like a jivin' place to be! 

Pug: Go on, you heard what the man said. Get hysterical.

Patty: I can't, it gives me hiccups.

Lana Turner, Sweater Girl

Pug to Patty: You look like you swallowed a sunset.

Warner Archive Wednesday - On (random) Wednesdays, I review one title from the Warner Archive Collection. I rented Dancing Co-Ed (1939) from Classicflix.

Catching Up with Quelle (13)

Happy Sunday! How are all of you? I am finally getting around to another edition of Catching Up with Quelle.

TCM Classic Film Festival - It looks almost certain that Carlos and I will be attending the TCM Classic Film Festival in April. We have our tickets and our hotel booked. All we need is to buy plane tickets. There is still a chance we won't be able to go but it looks more certain that we will than it did before. I am excited to go, to see Hollywood, to meet a lot of classic film fans and of course to watch some great movies!

New Robert Mitchum iPhone Case - Remember the Robert Mitchum iPhone case I had custom made in September? Well it broke. I have a tendency to drop my iPhone a lot. So I got a new one and am determined to not abuse my iPhone as much so I can keep this case a lot longer. Otherwise this will be an expensive new hobby of mine!

I like this iPhone case better than the last one. It's a great colorful of image of Robert Mitchum's 1953 visit to Hawaii. If you want to create your own custom iPhone case, I recommend using CafePress. You can get one made for $25 but I suggest you wait for a sale or a good coupon code. I ended up getting a few dollars knocked off the price with a custom iPhone case sale.


Sidney Poitier's letter to President Roosevelt - I love the blog Letters of Note which shares real letters from notable figures. They include a scan of the real letter along with the text typed out for those who may not be able to read the handwriting. I have read some of the most fascinating and endearing letters on that blog. Recently they posted a letter from a young Sidney Poitier to President Roosevelt. Poitier wrote the letter before he became a famous actor and when he was poor living in the U.S. and hoping to get a loan from President Roosevelt so he could go back to his family in Nissau. It's a very intriguing letter given the time period and also how Poitier became such a successful actor in the U.S. afterwards. You can find it here:
http://www.lettersofnote.com/2013/01/my-name-is-sidney-poitier.html

Classic Film Books on Goodreads - Do you love books on classic films as much as I do? Please come join me on Goodreads and add to my Classic Film Books list and vote for your favorites. I'm thinking of starting a book club but am not sure if there is enough interest. So I thought I'd start off with a list to see how it goes:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/30492.Classic_Film_Books

5 films you can watch for free on TCM.com

Did you know that TCM (Turner Classic Movies) has 5 full-length feature films from the 1930s available to watch for free on their website? I have listed the films below and have included the video. The links are to the IMDB pages and the Media Room - TCM page for each movie.

This is nothing new. These films have been available for years in the Media Room of the TCM website but I am not sure how many people are aware of them. So I thought I'd post them here. They are free and available to watch at anytime. I'm not sure about country restriction but these should be available for anyone in the U.S. at least.

I highly recommend Double Harness (1933). I have seen that film a couple times and it's a good pre-code starring William Powell and Ann Harding. Also, Topper (1937) is just a delight and I enjoyed Living on Love (1937) too.

I hope TCM will consider posting a few more of these in the future!

Update: I tried to embed all the movies on this page but it wasn't working. So I left up just one of them: Double Harness.

Kelly the Second (1936)
Watch on TCM

Topper (1937) 
Watch on TCM

One Man's Journey (1933)

Watch on TCM

Living on Love (1937)
Watch on TCM

Double Harness (1933)
Watch on TCM

I Do and I Don't by Jeanine Basinger

I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies
by Jeanine Basinger
9780307269164
Hardcover
Alfred A. Knopf (Random House)
On Sale: January 29, 2013

Find the book on:
Powells
Indiebound
Barnes and Noble
Amazon


“... the traditional role for both the marriage movie and the divorce movie is to tell the audience to keep on going. ‘I do, and I don’t, but I do.’ – that’s the story of the American marriage movie.” – Jeanine Basinger

When you think about love in the movies, the first thing that might come to mind is courtship. The game in which two people fall madly in love and want to be together but something gets in their way. The story of this lovestruck couple ends with a happily ever after or in tears. Marriage is just as important a theme as courtship in classic film but is often overlooked. In I Do and I Don’t, film historian Jeanine Basinger takes a close look at those movies that focus on the marriage aspect of a relationship. Her sharp focus on this particular type of movie spans the length of film’s history but primarily rests upon the time period of the 1920s to the 1960s when marriage was more culturally significant. The influence of this is reflected in the various marriage (and divorce) movies that resulted from the era. This book is not intended to be a scholarly text nor is it intended to be anything other than a general study of marriage movies in the film industry.

Basinger writes in her Author's Note:

"...this book is an overview of how commercial movies told the story of marriage, and how they used it to draw audiences into the theater. The book is descriptive, historical and personally speculative.It's about what the average person saw and heard at the movie theater. Nothing more and nothing less."

So what is a marriage movie exactly? The key here is to look at films which deal with marriage. Either the problem in the marriage is the crisis of the plot or the story happens to a married couple. Basinger identfies 7 different types of problems in marriage movies:

1) Money
2) Infidelity/Adultery
3) In-Laws and Children
4) Incompatibility
5) Class
6) Addiction
7) Murder

In the beginning of the book, Basinger discusses marriage in the movie at length, its significance, the difficulty filmmakers had using it as a plot device and the audience desire to see the “I do” or “I don’t but I do” situation played out. Audiences went to the movies for escape but also wanted to be able to relate to the characters and the difficulties they were experiencing. Marriage was a good plot device to achieve just that whether it was in a good comedy or drama.

As the book progresses, Basinger goes on to look at the 7 different types of marriage movies closely. She uses many examples and explains how each demonstrate that particular marriage problem in its own way. Spoilers are a necessary evil in these book as it is very important to look at the entire workings of a plot to extrapolate the meaning as well as to exemplify the role of marriage in the movie. If you are a film buff who has an extensive movie viewing history or you don't care as much about spoilers and are interested in the film industry, then you will not have any problems reading this book. I found myself skipping a few of the movies discussed primarily because the first couple sentences captured my interest and I didn’t want to ruin the movie with spoilers. I wrote those films down to watch them later. My advanced readers copy did not have an index but I am assuming the final book does which will help in going back to particular films in the future.

The book has a lot of footnotes. This disrupts the reading quite a bit, as footnotes normally do, and I think with some clever editing a lot of the footnotes could have been worked into the main text. There are numerous photographs included with fun explanatory captions. Where photos appear, they are paired in twos and threes and for the most part relate to one another. They often compare two or three different movies, show different situations in a story (for example: before and after) or show different themes. I think these work incredibly well and I was happy to see them.

The last part of the book focuses on how TV took over the marriage story as it worked beautifully for the TV format. It also looks at modern cinema and it’s current trouble with the marriage story. I very much enjoyed how Basinger looked at Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s on screen and off screen marriage as a sort of parallel story to the history of marriage in TV and film.

I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies is a well organized and enlightening book; a must-read for any film buff who wants to enhance their knowledge of film history.

Here are some notable films that were discussed in the book:


Woman of the Year (1942)
Cass Timerlane (1947)
Two for the Road (1967)
The Thin Man (1934)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
We're Not Married (1952)
They Died With Their Books On (1941)
Blondie serials
Ma & Pa Kettle serials
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Brief Encounter (1945)
The Facts of Life (1960)
No Room for the Groom (1952)
The various adaptations of The Painted Veil
The Painted Veil (1934)
The Seventh Sin (1957)
The Painted Veil (2006)

Jeanine Basinger is the author of books about classic film including The Star Machine (highly recommended!) and Silent Stars.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced reader’s copy from Alfred A. Knopf (Random House). It had black and white interior with no index in the back.

Weddings and Movie Stars

Weddings and Movie Stars
by Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh
Hardcover, 287 pages
9780956648723
$79.95
Reel Art Press
April 2011

Find the book on:
Powells
Indiebound 
Barnes & Noble
Amazon


Weddings and Movie Stars is a beautiful coffee table book available from the experts in quality photography books, Reel Art Press.

In June of last year, I attended Book Expo America, a big book industry trade show held every year in New York City. I saw a sign for a company called Reel Art Press, a small indie UK publisher I had never heard of. I thought I'd stop by their booth and check out the Kennedy coffee table book they had been advertising. When I arrived at their booth, I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple high quality classic film related coffee table books including one called Weddings and Movie Stars. I was about to get married in a few weeks and it just seemed like kismet that I found out about this publisher and the book. As soon as I got back home, I ordered the book and had so much fun reading it and looking at the wonderful photographs. Since one of my wedding's themes was Classic Hollywood, it was nice to own this.

Weddings and Movie Stars is a huge book! It is 11.75 inches wide and 13.75 inches tall and clocks in at about 7 pounds in weight (I measured it and weighed it myself). The quality photographs are a mixture of black and white and full color and they are gorgeous making this book total eye candy. The images are mostly from real life movie star weddings but also include on screen weddings. You'll see images from the Hollywood elite of the 1920s through to the 1970s with a few modern images. It ends with a somewhat odd tribute to The Graduate (1967) which I think they could have done without.

The photographs in this book are stunning. Some take up a single page or fill up a two page spread. Other pages have a couple images on one page. Basically what I am trying to say is that these are big luscious pictures that you will want to look at over and over again. Each photograph comes with captions which provide detail information about the couple and the wedding. There are lots of great anecdotes and stories as well as trivia bits about the designer of the gown, the circumstances of the wedding, and the inevitable quips about the various divorces that followed.

This book is $79.95 which is quite pricey but Weddings and Movie Stars is a collector's piece and worth the investment. This would make a really nice gift for a new bride especially one like myself who appreciates the style of the 20th century. It would also make for a great addition to anyone's coffee table. When storing it, lay it flat on its back or spine side down if you are putting in a book case, make sure it's spine side down. I made the mistake of putting the book on a book shelf sideways with the spine up and the heavy pages pulled at the spine ripping it a bit. It's a heavy book so make sure you take care of it!

Some notable couples in the book include:

Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart (cover)
Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III
Gene Tierney and Oleg Cassini
Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles
Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg
Dorothy Dandrige and Harold Nicholas
Sammy Davis Jr. and May Britt (some never before published pictures are included!)
Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra
Jimmy Stewart and Gloria Stewart
Ginger Rogers and Lew Ayres
Elizabeth Taylor and Various (tee hee)
and many more

There is some juicy gossip, most of it well-known and not anything very shocking. There is a very interesting pairing photographs with a picture from Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher's wedding (with Elizabeth Taylor in attendance) followed by Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher's wedding. Eek. Awkward! I did find one small error in the book. They listed Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as getting married in 1930 when the correct year was 1940. Oops! Also there are several non-movie star weddings including all the members of the Beatles but for the most part it sticks to actors and actresses.

Here are some pictures of the book. You may not find Weddings and Movie Stars at your local bookstore but you can find it online at various bookstores and for sale at Reel Art Press.

Note - If you want to find out if any of your favorite stars are in this book, just email me and I'll look it up and let you know.

Michael Douglas: A Biography by Marc Eliot

Michael Douglas: A Biography
by Marc Eliot
Hardcover, 352 pages
9780307952363
Crown Archetype (Random House)
September 2012

Find the book on:
Powells
Indiebound
Barnes & Noble
Amazon

Thank you to my husband Carlos for submitting this book review of Marc Eliot's latest biography on actor Michael Douglas!


My wife knowing how much I admire Michael Douglas secured a copy of his biography and suggested I review it.

From the time I saw Michael Douglas in Romancing the Stone (1984) he became one of my favorite actors. I have seen 22 of his movies, with Wall Street (1987) as my favorite movie for his acting and The Game (1997) as my favorite for the plot.

As I read the book, I came to realize how complicated Michael is as a person and how his life evolved. He was very much a product of his famous father, Kirk Douglas. Not only did he only did he follow his father’s footsteps in his profession but also in his relationships with women. They were both married twice, had numerous affairs and his mother’s name and first wife’s name are almost identical (Diana and Diandra respectively). They both have been awarded accolades for their vast bodies of work over many decades. Unlike his father Michael was involved in drugs and alcohol for a time.

Michael’s first acting break was the television series, The Streets of San Francisco, with Karl Malden. However it was not acting that made Michael famous, it was producing. Michael’s big producing break came courtesy of Kirk. Kirk was acting in a play called One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest for several years. Several attempts were made over the years to take play from the stage to the screen with no success. There was a growing interest in the book and he wanted to capitalize on it. Kirk was practically giving the movie away to anyone just as long he had the main part. No studio would touch it due to the depressing and sad story. Finally Michael interjected and convinced Kirk to let him take over the project. This is where Michael’s life would change forever. Now it had been several years and Kirk was looking for film work. Kirk assumed that since Michael was now producer that he would get the role of McMurphy as he did in the play. The only glitch in the project was that Kirk Douglas was deemed to old for that role. Michael agonized about this decision and the role ultimately went to Jack Nicholson which would win him his first Oscar.

After the monster success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and the subsequent Oscar for Best Picture, the movie industry was at Michael’s feet. He now had the power to star and/or make any movie he wished. Then in 1986 he starred in his definitive role of Gordon Gecko, in director Oliver Stone’s Wall St. His command performance of the financier would win him his second Oscar, this time for Best Actor.

His life was marred by personal setbacks and tragedy. He suffered the incarceration of his son, Cameron, for drug possession and the death of his half-brother, Eric, to a drug overdose. His first marriage ended in a contemptuous divorce. He even had a brush with stage IV throat cancer. Although through all the tribulations he did manage to find love again with fellow actor, Catherine Zeta-Jones. They married in 2000 and have two children.

Michael Douglas: A Biography by Marc Eliot is an engrossing and intimate look into the life of one of the most popular contemporary actors. The biography details the childhood of Michael growing up with a famous father and how his fragmented upbringing shaped him. The biography moves chronologically through childhood, college, starting in movies, having a child, divorce, and remarrying. Mr. Eliot details the ups and downs of Michael's life with concise thoughts. This book is an informative read for any movie buff or anyone looking to learn more about the famous actor. I was also impressed with Mr. Eliot's biography of Steve McQueen.

You can find my husband Carlos on his blog Live Fast Look Good or on Twitter @livefastlookgd .

Disclaimer: Thank you to Crown Archetype for sending a copy of the book for my husband to review!

Catching Up With Quelle (12)

Pillow Talk (1959) - My boss gave me a B&N gift card for the holidays and Carlos and I used it to have a date night at our local B&N store. We had some drinks at the cafe and had fun browsing through the DVD/Bluray section. I bought Pillow Talk (1959) on BluRay. It's a restored anniversary edition and what I liked about the package was that it came a BluRay, DVD and access to a digital download and also a fun 4-color booklet inside. The booklet is not removable so you can't lose it! I already had an old DVD of this but the quality was so poor that I am glad I made the upgrade. I played the BluRay on our HDTV and there was a noticeable improvement! But for some reason I couldn't watch the film all the way through. Something about it annoyed me. I think I need to distance myself from the film for a while so I don't fall out of love with it.

Have you ever fallen out of love with a classic movie? Have you upgraded one of your old DVDs to a restored DVD or BluRay?

Downton Abbey Rant - Downton Abbey's Season 3 premieres tonight in the States. However, the entire season has already aired in the UK and a DVD will be available with limited access fairly soon. Why is it that we in the United States, as rabid Downton Abbey fans as we are, cannot get access to the series when it airs in the UK? Why can't it be a simultaneous premiere on both sides of the pond?

I want to make the case to ITV in the UK to allow PBS's Masterpiece Series to air the episodes simultaneously for season 4. My first reason is to reduce piracy. I already know of a few American bloggers who have watched the full third series before it aired in the US and they did this by getting access to pirated copies. I didn't do this myself because I like PBS and would rather support them. Not that I'm above accessing pirated copies of shows, I had to do that with Mad Men when I didn't have cable (I'm both sorry and not sorry about that).

My other reason is that a lot of UK shows are supported heavily by American audiences. I would like to offer two case studies.

Vicar of Dibley (1994-2007)

From what I have heard in the past, this show was marginally successful in the UK but a huge hit on PBS in the US. It was especially popular around Christmas time and I remember seeing lots of episodes on PBS during the holiday season. The series continued on primarily because US audiences wanted more. I wish I could quote a source on this and if I find it I will link or quote it here! We helped keep this show going! And while I adore the Vicar of Dibley, it's full of very odd references to UK culture that we just don't get. In fact at one point, I started making a glossary of names and references so I could better understand the show! But audiences in the US still love it for it's quirky characters, funny jokes and overall charm.

As Time Goes By (1992-2005)

I was watching a fundraising special on PBS some years ago (after the series had ended) and on the special were actress Moira Booker, she plays Judith, and Philip Bretherton, who plays Alistair. Both Booker and Bretherton said on the fundraising special that the support of American fans was one of the main reasons this series lasted so long. TV shows like these do not have very long lives in the UK and the longevity of this one was a result of the support of PBS and American audiences. I absolutely adore this show and my repeat viewings and the fact that I own EVERY SINGLE DVD IN THE SERIES is definitely part of that support. Both Booker and Bretherton had also mentioned that they came to the US with the other actors in the series for some public event and were wowed by how much support there was here for the show and how much audiences here loved it.

Why do we love British shows so much? Because they are so well done, we are sick of all the reality crap and want something well-done and entertaining like Downton Abbey. Please do not punish us! Let us be a part of the experience by doing a simultaneous release for Downton Abbey Season 4!

Will you be watching Downton Abbey tonight? Have you already seen season 3? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

UPDATE: Thanks to Twitter I found out that the delay in Downton Abbey being aired in the U.S. was a decision made by PBS and not by ITV or by any rights issues. I think that decision on PBS' part is stupid and I hope they'll reconsider in the future.

New Year's and Ocean's 11 (1960)

Ocean's 11 (1960) is one of my favorite movies. In fact, it's in battle with Bachelor Mother for the #1 spot right now. I have at least 10 posts I could write about this darling film but today I'll stick with the New Year's theme. I apologize in advance that I do not have any screen caps for this post other than ones I stole from YouTube. My DVD copy went AWOL and my Blu-Ray is pretty useless on my Mac.

This is Ocean's 11 plus one. Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) has brought all his World War II buddies from the 82nd Airborne to Las Vegas for a well-orchestrated casino heist of Biblical proportions. Funded and originated by professional conman Acebos (Akim Tamiroff), the eleven men from the 82nd Airborne are going to rob millions of dollars from the five big casinos in Las Vegas. And they are going to do it at the stroke of midnight on New Year's.

The men involved in the New Year's Casino heist are Danny Ocean  (Frank Sinatra), Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford), Sam Harmon (Dean Martin), Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.), Mushy O'Connors (Joey Bishop), Anthony Bergdorf (Richard Conte),  Roger Corneal (Henry Silva), Vince Massier (Buddy Lester), Curly Steffans (Richard Benedict), Peter Rheimer (Norman Fell) and Louis Jackson (Clem Harvey).

The casinos they are going to hit are the Flamingo, Sahara, Desert Inn, Riviera and the Sands.

Here's the plan. At the stroke of midnight, people at the different casinos will have countdown to the New Year and will begin singing Auld Lang Syne. Danny Ocean has calculated that the song takes about a minute and 38 seconds to sing. While they are singing, there will be an explosion at one of the local electrical towers bringing it down. It will black out all the casinos temporarily and the way Anthony Bergdorf (Richard Conte) has it set up, all the casino security doors will automatically open. During the blackout, the men will steal the money from the casinos, put it into garbage cans and Josh (Sammy Davis Jr) will pick up all the bags and bring them to the local trash dump for hiding.

The plan can't go wrong. Right?

Ocean's Eleven and Acebos chose New Year's as the perfect moment for their heist because it's a time of vulnerability for the casinos. Each casino will be packed with people drunkenly celebrating New Year's, singing Auld Lang Syne and without a care in the world. Their celebration is the perfect distraction for a quiet robbery. When the men do rob the casinos, it's in the dark so their identities are disguised and they hold the casino vault workers hostage and have them sing Auld Lang Syne while they are being robbed.

I love the New Year's in Las Vegas circa 1960. It's full of glamour with all the women dressed in their finest gowns and accessories and all the men in well-fitted suits and skinny ties. There are showgirls, singers and so much fun! There is so much wonderful 1960 kitsch with New Year's party favors, streamers, hats, noisemakers, balloons and more. Everyone is carefree, smoking and drinking to their hearts contents and ringing in the New Year with a kiss with their date or a perfect stranger.

A feathered showgirl pony carousel? WHY NOT?!

So was the casino heist planned and executed by Ocean's 11 on New Year's successful? You'll just have to watch the movie and find out.

Now I leave you with Dean Martin singing one of the movie's main songs "Ain't That a Kick in the Head". Happy New Year!

Catching Up with Quelle (11)

It's been a tough week for me. I had some personal problems, then Jack Klugman died and my week off has been full of chores and catching up with stuff that I haven't been able to before when I was working. I did manage to watch a few movies and do some reading so there is that. I hope all of you had a better holiday than I did!

Period of Adjustment (1962) - I really wanted to write up a review and post it before TCM's airing and before Christmas but I just never got around to it. At first I thought this film was just another kooky comedy from the 1960s kind of like Lord Love a Duck. I watched the first hour and gave up. But for some reason, the film kept popping into my head and I couldn't quite let it go. I had to give it another chance.

Isabel (Jane Fonda) and George Haverstick (Jim Hutton) are newlyweds. They got married on Christmas after having met not so long ago at a hospital. They are on a honeymoon trip (traveling in a hearse!) which is turning out to be a disaster. They make a pit stop at the home of Ralph Bates (Anthony Franciosa) and his wife Dorothea (Lois Nettleton) but they only find Ralph there. Dorothea left after Ralph got fired from his job by his boss, her father. Both couples are going through a period of adjustment. The newlyweds have been thrown into their situation and are highly uncomfortable and not ready for sex and the married couple are dealing with issues of disappointment and unrealized expectations.

I watched the film again and was surprised to find that it is quite good. Newlyweds or anyone going through a new phase in their romantic relationship can appreciate this film. The main conflict of the story is essentially a battle of the sexes. The male and female characters are struggling with their respective roles, especially Franciosa's Ralph who is always trying so desperately to be "the man." One of the most interesting characters just happens to be the most quiet. And that is Ralph and Dorothea's son Skip "Junior" (Scott Robertson). He's a quiet little boy who likes to play with dolls. This angers and frustrates his dad Ralph. This innocent little boy is breaking down gender binaries unknowingly by playing with the toy that he wants to play with rather than the one he's expected to play with. The mere act of playing with a toy intended for little girls threatens his dad masculinity by voiding his influence as a male role model. In one scene, Ralph gets so angry that he throws the boy's doll into a fire. Quite an interesting subtext! I am so glad I gave this film a second chance.

Lady in Cement (1968) - Speaking of second chances, I thought I'd also give Lady in Cement another try. I didn't like it when I first watched it and this surprised me. I'm a huge fan of Tony Rome (1967) and Lady in Cement is the sort-of-sequel to that film. I have been partaking in multiple repeat viewings of Tony Rome and I was hungering for something more. So I decided to watch Lady in Cement again and I quite enjoyed it on the second viewing! There is something about the broken detective genre of the 1960s that I really enjoy. Also it's funny to see Lainie Kazan as a Spanish-American stripper! I really wish there were more than just two Tony Rome movies. There should have been more. I enjoy these much more than the James Bond films I've seen, although I like those too. For those of you who like Tony Rome and Lady in Cement, The Detective is similar but takes place in New York rather than Miami. Tony Rome is probably the most mild of the three whereas Lady in Cement and The Detective concern themselves a lot with homosexuality as part of the crime world.

Now Listening - I thought I'd share what music I'm listening to. Lately I have been listening to The Shelter of Your Arms, a collection of Sammy Davis Jr. songs. It's quite wonderful!


I just realized this post is very 1960s and that my recent viewings have been mostly films from the 1930s or the 1960s. I'll need to start finding more films from the decades around and in between to round things out a bit.

New Year's and The Bride Walks Out (1936)

I have talked about this film before so I'll just share the summary I wrote:

The Bride Walks Out (1936) stars Barbara Stanwyck as Carolyn, a model who makes decent money and enjoys her independence. She's got her own apartment, a steady job and even a maid. Her beau Michael (Gene Raymond) is an engineer who is down on his luck. It's the Depression and there aren't enough well-paying engineering jobs to go around so Michael makes do while he waits for an opportunity to come along. All Michael can offer Carolyn is a $35-a-week lifestyle. And a happy marriage. But Carolyn isn't so sure that's what she wants.While Michael is in court for a serious traffic violation, after trying (successfully) to get fired from his taxi driver job, Carolyn meets wealthy and permanently drunk Hugh McKenzie (Robert Young). Hugh is the opposite of Michael. He's carefree and reckless. But they have one thing in common. They are both in love with Carolyn.

Carolyn and Michael are about to celebrate their first New Year's together as a married couple. So far it's been a very rocky road. Bills are starting to add up, Carolyn hasn't gotten the hang of being a housewife quite yet and Michael still doesn't have a job that pays well. And Hugh keeps getting drunk and making appearances. You could easily wag your finger at the Great Depression and blame it for ruining marriages. Lack of money always complicates things.

On New Year's the Acme Furniture company comes around to take away all of the furniture from Carolyn and Michael's apartment because they have only made 1 payment in the last 3 months. The New Year is looking pretty grim.

"Why on New Years? Why couldn't you do it tomorrow?" - Carolyn

"I'm sitting on top of the world." - Michael

Michael doesn't know the furniture has been repossessed and he calls Carolyn up from a telephone pole to tell her they are going out to celebrate New Year's Eve with the $50 he has in his pocket.

"But that's more than a whole week's salary!" - Carolyn

"Yes but this is going to buy us enough fun to last us a whole year." - Michael

Carolyn tries to talk Michael out of it because they could really use the money but doesn't tell him about the repossession or the money troubles they have been having. Uh oh. Looks like only one half of this couple is going to really enjoy this New Year's Eve!

Hugh swings by with two obscenely large bottles of champagne and the distraught Carolyn drinks her sorrows away with her best friend, Hugh and the staff from the Acme Furniture company.

It's pretty obvious at this point that Hugh can provide for Carolyn whereas Michael cannot. New Year's is a time for Carolyn to contemplate what she is going to do with her life. Stay with Michael for love or leave him for Hugh for convenience. Oh the Depression and the moral dilemmas it presented.

The New Year's for Carolyn and Michael is full of miscommunication and disappointment. Carolyn is disappointed that they can't make end meets and Michael is disappointed that Carolyn shows up late and drunk to pick them up to go out for New Year's Eve. When they arrive at the party, Carolyn's buzz has worn off and reality hits her. She and Michael argue at the party. Carolyn tells him she's going back to work but Michael won't have it.

"I'm sorry I'm just a disappointment for you" - Carolyn to Michael

Oh dear. I'm no stranger to those words!

What will the New Year bring the unhappy couple? New Year's is a time for reflection and for new beginnings. It's unrealistic to think any New Year's Eve celebration will be a happy one. I've known to have had some pretty disastrous ones in my past. I guess the moral of Carolyn and Michael's New Year's story is that lack of communication prevents you from moving forward. 

It's also interesting to see the newlyweds paired with the old unhappily married couple. You wonder if the newlyweds will become better like them or if the old married couple still has a chance at happiness.

The Bride Walks Out (1936) is a charming movie full of funny moments despite the Depression-era gloom that hangs over the characters. This is the first New Year's for Carlos and I as newlyweds so watching this film now reminds me to be patient, to communicate and that love is greater than money.