Recommendations Needed!

I know this is not movie-related but it is somewhat relevant to the "out of the past" theme of this blog!

I am looking for recommendations on music CDs. I just got an Amazon.com gift card and I'd like to invest in some 40s/50s/60s jazz music, some 20s/30s dance music and some 50s/60s pop music. I'd like to build my library a bit with artists or collections that I don't already have.

I've got what I need of Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. Any other big names that you recommend? It would be nice to get a themed or "Best of" collection on one CD. I really love the "For Lovers" series.

For 20s/30s dance, I have the Original Dance Music of 1920's & 1930's which I absolutely love, but am scared of trying another compilation. Anyone out there have one similar to this that they adore and would suggest to me?

For 50's/60's pop, all I got is Bobby Darin. Now I love me my Bobby Darin. In fact, I love him so much that when I bought my copy of Bobby Darin: The Hits Single Collection at Barnes & Noble 2+ years ago it went from the store to my car and hasn't left the car since. Literally! I listen to it on long drives, short drives, even medium-length drives. I love to sing along really loudly in the privacy of my Toyota Corolla. But I digress. I'd really like to try something else fun from this time period. Probably a collection, but a single artist would be fine too.

Please! Help! Comment or e-mail! Thank you in advance!

Check it out!

Turner Classic Movies is now posting feature film length videos on their MediaRoom website. Up until recently, you could only watch trailers, shorts and promos in the form of short video clips. Now, they are posting entire films! Mostly obscure ones not available on DVD. The quality is good and the video screen is larger than your normal online video clip would be. I highly recommend watching one. I recently saw Living On Love (1937) on the website and was very happy with the experience. Here is their current selection.

Living On Love (1937)
Way Out West (1937)
One Million, B.C. (1940)
Go Johnny Go! (1959)

If you don't mind really tiny, poor-quality video screens, then you can also try Internet Archive's Moving Images library. I love this website, mostly because I can find my old music page on there from back in the day in their Wayback Machine, but also because you can find feature-length films as well as old shorts in the Moving Images section. So, what are you waiting for? Check it out!

Classic Movie Night

On Saturday I organized my first ever Classic Movie Night. I invited 9 of my very closest friends and we had dinner, drank wine and watched Scarecrow (1920), a Buster Keaton short and Bachelor Mother (1939), my favorite film from the '30s. I themed my apartment with movie posters and people went home with take-away goodies. Fun was had to be sure! I hope I am able to make this a semi-regular event.

Breaking the Code: Blow-Up (1966)

In my journey to discover those films that broke the Code, it was imperative that I watch Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966). It's been heralded as the film that not only broke the Code, but threw it in the garbage can and lit said garbage can on fire. A veritable middle-finger in movie form.

Blow-Up is a really quiet film about just that, a blow-up. And it's title has a two-fold meaning. There is the literal blow-up, which is the picture that reveals a murder that Thomas, a visually hungry fashion photographer played by David Hemmings, blows up in order to study hidden details. Then there is the figurative blow-up which results in his discovery of the crime. You could add a third meaning, in the film's "blow-up" of the conception of what a movie is or what it should be.

If it had a precedent or if it had come later in the decade, I'm not sure that this film would have been so important in film history. People could have just seen it as another weird, swinging '60s flick. However, there are some things that make it quite remarkable. Its star, David Hemmings, is probably your best reason for watching the film. He epitomizes what one would expect of a London swinger. A gorgeous stylish man who just doesn't give a damn about propriety and is in search of his conception of the ultimate beauty. Then there is Vanessa Redgrave, who plays Jane, the woman threatened by Thomas' pictures of her at the crime scene. She is amazing to watch as she is the contemporary, troubled '60s goddess.

Finally there is the scene, that is the film, more than the actual film is the film. You know what I'm talking about. Hemmings sits on top of his model (played by Verushka) screaming "yes, yes, more, more" as he takes pictures of her as she writhes seductively on the floor. That one scene is iconic of that decade in film.