Monday, February 27, 2012

The Artist (2011) wins the Academy Award for Best Picture and a Rant



Wiz Pleazuuure

I hadn’t intended to watch the Oscars last night but I got swept up in the glamour of the red carpet, the glitz of the show and all the love for The Artist. I cheered on as I saw The Artist win for Best Picture, Best Score (take that Kim Novak!), Best Actor (Jean DuJardin, YAY!), Best Costume Design and Best Director. I had hoped that God is the Bigger Elvis would have won for best Documentary Short just so I could see Dolores Hart on stage. Actress Elizabeth Banks tweeted her confusion as to why there was a nun on the red carpet. Reading that tweet (which was RTd, I don’t follow her on Twitter), caused me to smack my forehead. Of course Elizabeth Banks doesn’t know who Dolores Hart is! Because a lot of new actors don’t care about film history. Not even the Academy cares very much about early film. Did you notice that in one of the montages showing “classics” they didn’t go further back then Midnight Cowboy (1969) (or at least that’s the earliest film I spotted)? And the Oscars are notorious for skipping over people in their memorial montage, although this year they did a lot better. Now I understand perhaps skipping over Barbara Kent this year because she had only played minor roles in a few films, her last one being released in 1935. But when Penny Singleton (aka Dorothy McNulty) passed away in 2003, they skipped her over in the 2004 montage. Singleton had a very long career in Movie and Television, much longer than Barbara Kent and she also had the Blondie series in which she was the title character! But no one knows who Penny Singleton is so let’s just skip her. If TCM can pay homage to everyone in a few minutes and do a great job at it, a 3-1/2 hour award show can do the same.


The Academy Awards usually throws in some mentions of a few favorites like Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz, some Hitchcock, but for the most part it’s all about new new new. We are lucky if we even see Mickey Rooney on the red carpet or in the audience. I’m sure they shove him in the way back even though he’s been attending the Oscars longer than most of those people have been alive. When Kirk Douglas presented the Best Supporting Actress Oscar last year I near fell out of my chair. Seeing him on stage made my heart fill with joy. But idiots on Twitter and elsewhere had different reactions: 1) Kirk Douglas is still alive? and 2) Oh wow, that’s awkward, take the old dude off the stage. Let’s just forget about the fact that the man survived a stroke and has a legendary career in film. Naw, just get him off the stage. And the honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement isn’t even televised anymore. Sad!

This year I was happy for two things. For The Artist and for Hugo (2011). I haven’t seen Hugo but I own and have read the book it’s based on: The Invention of Hugo Cabret. The author/illustrator is Brian Selznick (and yes he is of the famous Hollywood Selznick family) and I got to meet him at Book Expo one year. For me the book celebrated the magic of early film and knowing Martin Scorsese’ appreciation for film history I’m sure the movie did the book justice. As most of you know, The Artist is a silent film (well mostly silent, there is some sound beyond just music and there is a bit of dialogue but not very much). It’s also black and white. How many of us classic film fans have encountered push back because a film is either silent or black and white? “Ew! I only watch films in color and with dialogue.” Well, congratulations! You are king/queen of the world. Silent films and black and white films are so beneath your excellence. What The Artist demonstrated is that a contemporary film doesn’t have to be American, doesn’t have to be color and doesn’t have to be a talkie. A French black-and-white silent film can be just as entertaining and even more so than the interminable dross that’s out there now.

Now it’s not to say that The Artist is a perfect film but it is really good. So before you buy into the Novak controversy, try watching it first. The only issue I had with it was the lack of 1920s/1930s lingo. “Oh my god” was used twice in the film that I noticed. That’s very much a contemporary phrase. They could have had fun with old slang like “on the level”, “and how!”, “Sheik”, “bee’s knees” and “cat’s pajamas”. But they didn’t which is a shame. However, I could tell that they put a lot of attention to the finer details of the era and stayed as true as they could to the period as possible. I definitely appreciated that.

Someone online stated that people who will watch The Artist will not decide to then watch earlier silent films. I don’t agree with that. It's not that I think people will be lining up to see the most complete version of Metropolis but I think saying no one will be interested in silent films is too general a statement. Whenever I watch a film I like, I try to find other films like it. And whenever I discover an actor or actress I enjoy, I try to watch other films they’ve done. It’s just how I watch films. It’s a chain reaction. One experience leads to other experiences. While The Artist is a silent film that is more palatable to modern audiences, I think that there will be some people who will be willing to take the challenge of exploring the silents of a bygone era.

Sometimes I write these posts and then ask myself, what’s my point? My point is that films like The Artist and Hugo demonstrate to all those haters out there that classic films matter! These films are our champions and we should be their champions too. They are love letters to the past from the present. They express the same love we have for classic films. So hurray for The Artist for celebrating early film, for entertaining us and for winning those awards. Congratulations!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Love is a Ball (1963)


And just when I had thought I'd seen all the 1960s sex comedies that I could, I discovered Love is a Ball (1963) on Netflix Instant. Love is a Ball is a delightful and fun romantic romp which takes place in the French Riviera. Glenn Ford stars as John Davis, a former race car driver (winner of the Grand Prix in Monaco!) whose down on his luck when he finds his beloved boat in desperate need for repair but he has no money to fix it up and get it back in the water. That's where Charles Boyer comes in. Boyer plays Monsieur Etienne Pimm, a professional matchmaker who takes down-on-their luck aristocrats and matches them with wealthy companions. He devises an elaborate scheme to get the two together, make them fall in love and see them off in a happy marriage of convenience and love. Boyer's latest cause is Duke Gaspard (Ricardo Montalban) who he plans to match up with American heiress Millie (Hope Lange). Millie has $40 million and Gaspard has a title but no charm, poor skills in English and desperately lacking equestrian and motor skills. Boyer hires three men: Ford/Davis who will teach Gaspard to ride horses, play polo and race cars, a linguist who will teach him how to speak English and quote great scholars and poets and a cook who will prepare fantastic meals so Boyer can wine and dine the conquest.

I usually don't like going into too much description of a film. Heck, if you just wanted the summary I would send you to IMDB or Wikipedia. However, the plot of this movie is so much fun that I just had to write it down. Because even just taking about it makes me laugh! Boyer sends his own British chauffeur to work for Millie but when a freak accident puts him out of commission, Ford/Davis is sent off to be Millie's chauffeur instead. Ahh and here is when the wrench is thrown into the works. Millie starts to fall for her new driver even though M. Pimm/Boyer and her uncle Dr. Christian Gump (Telly Savalas) have set designs on Gaspard as her future husband. And Gaspard is starting to have an eye for Boyer's assistant Janine (Ulla Jacobsson).

This is a fun film. Parts of it reminded me of Come September (1961) which was filmed in Italy. The French Riviera is definitely a major character in this film. Love is a Ball has all the classic workings of a 1960s sex comedy.  Hope Lang and Glenn Ford were in a romantic relationship in real life and you can tell there is some chemistry between them. I think Ford and Montalban were both a bit old for their parts but still believable in their roles. Love is a Ball was also spared some of the real bad dubbing that the 1960s were known for.

I highly recommend this film if you are a fan of the Doris Day-Rock Hudson-Tony Randall features like Pillow Talk (1959), or the Bobby Darin-Sandra Dee films such as If a Man Answers or Come September. It's available on Netflix Instant but the quality is so terrible on there that I recommend purchasing the DVD or renting it from ClassicFlix.

Friday, February 17, 2012

My Classic Film Bookshelves



In our cramped condo, I have two bookcases filled with books. Two shelves in particular are devoted to classic film books and they are already filled to capacity. If I could have the entire bookcase filled with classic film books I would be happy. But alas, cookbooks, novels, reference guides and books from my college years beg for space too. Looking at these two particular shelves of my bookcase makes me very happy. I smile thinking of of the particular books I've read and the ones that I get to read soon.

What does your classic film bookshelf/bookshelves look like? Share a picture! Post it on your blog, tell me about it and I'll add a link to this post (and tweet it too).

Edit - Here are some that were shared:


Here is the list of the books, from left to right and from top shelf to bottom shelf. I've also included links to my reviews (and marked them with a *) or to B&N if I haven't reviewed them yet.

First Shelf
Second Shelf
A few things I noticed about my bookshelves after listing these books: 1) I don't have a lot of books about classic film actresses, 2) Several titles had very long subtitles and in some cases more than one subtitle, 3) I have 3 books about the Marx Bros! 4) I can remember the story of how I came to adopt/acquire each and every one of these books 5) I don't alphabetize any more and 6) I have a lot more reviewing to do!


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