The Friend Dynamic

Watching a movie with friends is a totally unique experience. It's multi-layered and full of surprises. I recently had several opportunities to watch some classic and contemporary films with friends. To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, A Girl Cut in Two, Baby Mama, among others. In fact the picture on the left is of Kevin, H. and Lisa who joined me to go see Metropolis recently (see my previous post). If I had watched any of these films by myself, at home, (which I have), I would only remember the story and not the experience. But it's a whole other story when I watch movies with friends.

I sat down and thought about how friends shape the movie-watching experience. I decided in order to understand it, I had to somehow make sense of it. So I broke the basic experience into three sections. Starting with pre-show bonding, followed by communal viewing and ending with post-show bonding. All three phases are crucial to provide the ultimate experience.

Pre-show bonding is taken for granted by many. In fact, it irks me when people are late (including myself, which is often the case) and pre-show bonding is either reduced to a couple minutes of rushed conversation or none at all. This is the time before the movie where you share your excitement for what's up ahead. If it's a new movie, you talk about what you've heard about the film, the director or its actors or even reviews and friend's recommendations. If it's a movie you've seen before, you share with others your last experience watching it and what interesting tidbits you have to offer. All of this increases the anticipation of watching the film and adds to a heightened sense of enjoyment. 15-20 minutes of pre-show bonding is ideal.

Communal viewing is probably the most elusive and indescribable of the three phases, although I'll try my best to talk about what I have a grasp on. The most obvious thing is laughter. When someone laughs, I find myself laughing too. Sometimes it's a joke that I would find funny so I share in the laughter. Or its just a serious scene that ended up being silly. Or it's not funny at all, but laughter is a way to react physically to it. Others laughter makes me ultra-aware of what just happened on screen. I get to thinking, why did he or she find that interesting? Then, more often than not, I'm the only one laughing, because I get something others don't. Not because I'm super-intelligent, but just because I'm weird. Maybe they're wondering why I'm laughing too?

Post-show bonding is probably the most satisfying. It's a few minutes of talk during the credits then more talk either right outside the theater or at some bar or coffeehouse. If you're lucky and watch a film at someone's home, post-show bonding can last for a good amount of time, without the worry of having to catch the bus or getting out of the cold. During post-show bonding, you get to find out what others thought of the film. What they enjoyed, their reservations or frustrations or what it reminded them of. Some of the mystery behind those random bouts of laughter slips away. People thank whoever organized the outing and promises are made to have similar outings in the future. 20-30 minutes of post-show bonding should be required.

I'm sure I'm missing many key elements to this experience, but I wanted to make sure I at least got some thoughts in writing before it escaped me. Because as nice as it is to snuggle up at home and watch a good movie, it's even better when you are surrounded by good friends.

Ernie: The Autobiography

Ernie: The Autobiography
by Ernest Borgnine
9780806529417
$24.95
Citadel Press
August 2008

My favorite quote: "I've gone from a working stiff who didn't want to set the world on fire, who just wanted to keep his nuts warm, to where I am."

I just finished reading Ernie's autobiography and gee was it swell! Written in a conversational style, you feel like Ernie is sitting right down next to you telling you in person the stories of his life and his movies. He's upbeat all the way through. Some have criticized this as being a major flaw in the book, but I think it just makes it more authentic. Ernie's a happy-go-lucky Italian guy who's led a long and interesting life and why wouldn't the writing reflect that? Why do biographies and autobiographies always have to be down and dirty tell-alls? Grab a nice hot beverage and snuggle up to a book that will keep you in high spirits as you take a journey through the life of one extraordinary hard-working and upbeat actor!

I only have one critique to make. And it's not about the book or its author (or ghost writer if there is one). It's a critique about myself. I haven't watched enough Ernest Borgnine films!!! I would have enjoyed the book more so if I had been more familiar with his films. The book is laid out with a unique structure. The first few chapters are about his childhood and his family. Once you get into the chapters about his film career, they are sections within each of the chapters. Each section is dedicated to one of his films and it goes through many of them. Ernie will chat to you about his unique experience with each film and the directors and actors he works with. He doesn't bad mouth anybody. If anything, he feels sorry for the folks he didn't like or he watched fall. So die-hard Ernest Borgnine fans (or at least those people who have seen enough of his films), this book was written for you!

You get such lines like "I had a helluva time", "Believe me, I'm not complaining", "you bet your life!" He won my heart when he said that he loved Bob Mitchum and lended his support to get Mitchum an honorary Oscar before he passed away. It didn't end up happening, but the fact that Ernie was rooting for him won me over. I heart Ernie. Ernie even addresses his ex-wife Ethel Merman's biography, which had a chapter in it called "Ernest Borgnine" followed by a blank page. He said "at least she didn't say anything bad about me".

This is not your average biography. This is probably the closest you'll get to the real thing. So go out and buy a copy! Now!!!

UPDATE ~ Work: My Classic Film Nest

My recent post about my work area was quite popular and I wanted to follow it up with a few things:

1) Hurricane Kyle must not have been a classic film fanatic, because due to all the rain and an unfortunate leak above my desk, my images of Marilyn Monroe and Spencer Tracy with Katharine Hepburn were destroyed due to water damage. It's a shame. Maybe I need laminated photographs?

2) Jonas of Lokomotivet started a new international blog called All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!. His first post is a photograph of his work desk and a description of all the classic images posted. He has a poster of Hollywood Revue of 1929!!! Check it out. And maybe you'll notice which blog just happens to be displayed on his computer monitor? Hmmm.....

3) At my work, we hosted an author event that had a collegiate theme. Organizers posted huge college-style posters including the standards like John Belushi/Animal House, Led Zeppelin and the Tournée du Chat Noir. There was a humongous, bright pink Audrey Hepburn - Breakfast at Tiffany's poster too! Once the event was over, the Hepburn poster quickly disappeared. My co-worker Frank immediately suspected me. However, I was absolutely NOT the culprit since I already have two obligatory Audrey Hepburn photos (one at work and one at home) and that poster was so big it would be an eyesore in my apartment. I'm suspicious that a resident Louise Brooks fan took it. She has a penchant for oversized posters and old film stars. The investigation is ongoing.

4) Bloggers - please feel free to post images of your work area on your respective blogs, like Jonas did! Give me a heads up when you do. Guest Bloggers - if you are blogless and want to participate, please e-mail me a contribution and I can post it here. Consider youserlves tagged!

The Great Depression ~ Ethay Reatgay Epressionday

I have been thinking about the economy a lot lately, especially how its going to affect myself and my family and how its going to affect American culture and business. I keep asking myself, how is our view of money and wealth going to change in this turbulent economic climate?

Something happened a couple of years ago that bothered me immensely. It was August 2005 and the MTV Video Music Awards were being held in Miami, Florida. I was watching the ceremony because my favorite new band was up for an award. Hurricane Katrina had just past by and the clouds were dark in the sky as the sun struggled to breakthrough. One of the VMA announcers declared how lucky they were to have escaped the storm unscathed. Instead of a red carpet, artists arrived with expensive luxury cars. Photographers snapped shots of the celebrities draped in their wealth. Cameras soaked up all the bling to transport those images to viewers who sat at home, their lustful eyes glued to the screen. The same Hurricane that left all those rich celebrities intact was headed start towards Louisiana to cause unspeakable destruction in an area populated with poor civilians. Why were the rich spared?

With all this talk about the state of the current economy, it got me thinking about the Great Depression. And when I think about the Great Depression, I think about the Gold Diggers films, especially Gold Diggers of 1933. There is that great number with all the ladies dressed in fake coins singing "We're in the Money". The lyrics dance in my head...

We're in the money, We're in the money,
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along.
We're in the money, the skies are sunny,
Old man Depression, you are through, you've done us wrong!
We never see a headline 'bout a bread line today;
And when we see the landlord,
We can look that guy right in the eye!
We're in the money, come on, my honey,
Let's spend it! Lend it! Send it rolling around!

Images of the girls borrowing clothes from each other, stealing the neighbor's milk and avoiding the landlady are burned into my brain. They had to be gold diggers. They had to do what they could "to get along"! I can see how audiences during the Depression would love this kind of film. They could identify with the lowly condition of the girls but also root them on as they tried to find a way out of their situation.

What about the flip side? Americans in the 1930's went to watch films in the cinemas as an escape from their current reality. They spent what little money they had at the pictures. Did they want to see films about poor people suffering? NO! They were living that reality and wanted to forget about it for an hour or two in a dark theater. So what did they go see? Films which had rich people as central characters. The Thin Man (1934), Dinner at Eight (1934), A Free Soul (1931), etc.

So what makes watching rich people in movies during the Great Depression different from viewing excessive spenders on reality shows and televised award ceremonies? Is it that the rich people in the movies are fictional so we can't really envy them because they don't exist? Where as those celebrities at the VMAs were real? How is this going to affect what we watch on screen? Will we continue to watch shows like Gossip Girl (fictional) and The Hills (Reality, bordering the line into fictional) and live vicariously through the characters or tune in simply to watch them fall? I don't know what's going to happen. I just know that what's on screen has to speak to us, otherwise audiences will go elsewhere.

You Otto See It: Angel Face (1953)

This is my first in a series of entries on the director Otto Preminger. I'm planning to watch 8 Preminger films (click here for the list) in preparation for my friend Kevin's lecture in November.

The first I watched was Angel Face (1953) , "presented" by Howard Hughes and starring Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum. I'm not sure what this film is and after watching it I wasn't sure exactly what it was that I saw. I just know that Robert Mitchum looked hot and that he slapped Otto Preminger during production. Go Mitchum! I would have liked to have slapped Preminger too for having to sit through this film. Although I titled this series "You Otto See It", I don't really recommend it. It's boring, confusing and the only thing to look forward to is Mitchum's pretty mug.

I did, however, like the beginning of the movie. Mitchum plays an ambulance driver, Frank, who gets called to the scene of a potential smothering. A rich woman claims someone tried to suffocate her and already we are suspicious. Then there is the woman's step-daughter, Diane, played by Jean Simmons, who is beautiful, tormented, has an angel face, blah blah blah. Frank and Diane slap each other a few times (many re-takes compelled Mitchum to slap Preminger) and are thrusted into a hot and heavy affair. Trouble is Frank's got this girl, Mary, played by Mona Freeman, a nurse at the hospital he works for. She doesn't have the angel face but she's got an angel heart. He should be with Mary but Diane is the one who excites him. Mary is confronted by Diane and finds out about Frank's infidelity. Frank doesn't know that Mary knows about Frank & Diane's rendezvous the previous night. When Mary confronts Frank, this gem appears in the dialogue:

Frank: I would have been lousy company last night. Ten minutes after I left Harry's I was in the sack.

Mary: I can believe that. Well, you can head for that same sack tonight.

I don't know much about the social norms of dating and relationships in the 1950's. But from what I gather from this film and others like it is that a man is free to see who he wants until he gets married. There isn't really a concept of a "boyfriend" or a committed pre-marital relationship, as we have in our contemporary culture. Just a courtship, which if successful, leads to an engagement which is mercifully brief and followed by a quick marriage. Engagements sometimes last hours or a few days, unless the beau is really dragging his heels. Maybe fast courtships and engagements were a way to snag a guy before a dangerous angel face lures him away. Who knows?

It's not that this film answered any questions I had, it just got me thinking. So at least I have that. In the end, the moral of the story was that beauty is dangerous and don't teach a girl how to fix a car.

God Speed: Paul Newman (1925-2008)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Work: My Classic Film Nest

I am by nature a nester. I settle into a spot, make it all nice and cozy and I nestle in as happy as can be. When the company I work for moved offices in March of this year, I had a difficult time with the transition. After 4+ years of perfecting my desk-nest, I had to give it up forever for a new, bare and foreign cubicle. I knew if I was going to make the transition unscathed I had to nestify my cube, FAST! So within 30 minutes of my arrival to the new office, my new cubicle was decked out with tchotckes, notes, doodads and of course, Classic Movie Paraphernelia! Since then, the area has become less foreign and more of a comfort zone. And whoever stops by will for sure know I'm a classic film fan.

I thought it would be fun to take you on a journey of all the classic movie images I have posted in my work area. So I snuck into work early one morning and took some snap shots (lest I be ridiculed). Please enjoy!

First of all there is my Classic Movie Posters Calendar. It's been a permanent fixture in my work area for almost 5 years! I even have my 2009 calendar ready and waiting. And behold! September features Metropolis (1927)!

A few of the older calendars had preview layouts on the back with all the posters in mini-form. Being the resourceful person I am, I didn't let them go to waste and promptly cut them out and used them to decorate various parts of my desk area.

What would my desk be without Norma Shearer? This is a little clip that is pinned to my corkboard. It's from an issue of Parade and Norma's presence is purely coincidental because the tiny article was about Clark Gable. The caption reads "Gable with Norma Shearer: Good actor, bad breath".

Other people grace my cubicle too. I love this picture of Marilyn Monroe, it's by far my favorite of her. She looks elegant and vibrant. And that picture of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn staring into each others eyes, classic! My picture of Robert Mitchum was defaced however and is missing (see my post about the incident). Oh woe is me.

I tend to chuckle to myself when I see that great picture of Irene Dunne pulling on Cary Grant's hair. Grant's expression is priceless. I kept the old Harvard Film Archive schedule so I could hang that image at work and see it everyday. And what TCM fan doesn't love Edward Hopper? Represent!

I like to keep mementos from outings, especially when I go see films at theaters. The image at the top is a cut-out from an old HFA schedule and its of Dick Powell and Lizabeth Scott in Pitfall (1948) (see my previous post about that movie). The other picture is of Ludivine Sagnier (I LOVE HER!) in A Girl Cut in Two (2007). It's a cut-out from a Kendall Square Cinema schedule, where I saw the film recently. Yes, I watch contemporary films! Foreign ones too!

And then there is the obligatory Audrey Hepburn photo. This was a blad from BEA that a co-worker picked up for me. It's quite gorgeous and adds a bit of style to a bookshelf that holds books about dinosaurs, dragons, ducks and poop!

Metropolis (1927)

There can be no understanding between the hand and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.

My friends Kevin, Haze and Lisa accompanied me last night to the Harvard Film Archive to watch a free screening of the great silent epic Metropolis (1927) (some sites list it as 1926). It was quite a treat to see this monumental film up on the big screen. However, that was dampened by my disappointment in the audience reaction to the viewing. I believe that if most of the people in that audience had voted on my poll which asks "What do you think of Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927)?" they would have chosen "Weird! Hello? Have you seen it?" as an option. I noticed that a couple people left in the middle of the movie while others stayed to gripe and moan about the over-the-top elements of the movie. I for one was tremendously irked by the negative reaction. Sure it's over-the-top. It's a silent film people!

I find solace in the fact that most of the people in the audience were probably required to be there and they obviously did not understand the background, history and impact of the film in order to enjoy it fully. I didn't enjoy Citizen Kane (1941) until I studied it in a film class as an undergrad and I hated The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) until I read Tolkien's books and got what the hell was going on. And if I didn't appreciate Metropolis' impact on history and culture and didn't enjoy futuristic art deco style, allegory, social commentary and biblical references, I probably would have bolted from the theater as soon as "The End" appeared on screen, as so many did yesterday evening. Knowledge is indeed power. Even if it only extends into the power of enjoyment.



On a more positive note, watching Metropolis last night reinvigorating my strong interest in this movie. I highly recommend that you read the Wikipedia entry on this film. Usually entries on this site are bare-bones, but this one contains a lot of interesting content as well as links to other sources. And Metropolis fans, like myself, can look forward to the complete film being released after an original print was discovered a couple of months ago in Argentina. One website claims, a new release on DVD and Blu-Ray may be on the market as soon as next year! Huzzah!

In the meantime, please vote on my poll to let me know what you think of Metropolis. Also, please feel free to share your thoughts in the form of comment entries on this blog (I love reading those!).

Bette Davis Stamp On Sale Now!

Must! Buy! NOW!

Thank you to Frank who gave me the heads up about this.

Out of the Past, Into the Now ~ Deuil

Je suis dans le deuil

I am in mourning for the Back to Basics - Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera reinvents herself with each new album, as many pop stars are prone to do. It keeps their fans from getting bored and allows the musician to experiment with a new and different style. It also brands their album with an image that is intrinsically tied into the music. So when I saw the glamorous old Hollywood style of the Back to Basics album I was full of glee. I knew that this was an Aguilera I could identify with and I was so proud of her of bringing some sense of the past to her fans. I even posted (sort of) here about it!

First there was Ain't No Other Man, which captured the noir essence of a '40s night club. Then there was Hurt, an homage to the bohemian-gypsy style of the turn of the 20th century. Finally, there was Candyman, a hyper-sexualized delight that was a throwback to the youths of WWII. This was only the visuals for the music videos, the music itself was astounding on a whole other level. I loved it all, ate it up and couldn't get enough.

I knew full well that this was only a phase and that it wouldn't continue past the life of the album. This was confirmed at the recent VMA's where she performed decked out in a new futuristic style which told me the Back to Basics - Aguilera is gone. ::sigh:: I will miss her.

At least I have Katy Perry to keep me company...

Nothing much now, but things will get better!

There is not a lot going on, Classic Film-wise. It's funny how these things work. Sometimes, I have a million things I want to write and I end up writing a whole bunch of new posts all at once and stage them out so as not to flood the blog an overwhelming amount of verbiage. And other times ideas are scarce and the blog becomes a wasteland of silence. I hope that this is only temporary and the flow of ideas will soon return.

The Ultimate Norma Shearer Fan

A friend of mine on Facebook is the ultimate Norma Shearer fan. Her profile page is plastered with Norma Shearer mentions. She owns the official Norma Shearer member page and fan group on the website. She even lists her religion as "Norma Shearer Worshipper". While all of this must seem mundane, she showed her true devotion recently with something that even astounded myself. And I consider myself quite a fan. She had the name "Norma Shearer" tattooed on what looks to be her forearm. For many reasons, I would not post the picture or even indicate this person's name, but I thought it worthy of a post. Now it is one thing to have an image of a celebrity tattooed on your body (it can be considered artwork in addition to radical devotion), but it is quite another to have their name tattooed. I was quite amazed. I wonder what Norma would think if she were still alive?

DISCLAIMER: Please withhold your judgment as getting a tattoo is a very personal decision and everyone has their own reasons for getting one. I'm just posting this as an interesting story to share.

All in the name of the queen. Long live the queen.

Tout en la nom de la Reine. Vive la Reine.

God Speed Anita Page (1910-2008)

Anita Page was one of the last few silent screen stars still alive. I remember watching her play one of the sisters in Broadway Melody of 1929. And believe it or not, she actually has a film coming out later this year! Amazing. God Speed Anita Page!

Out of the Past, Into the Now: The Women (1939) or is it (2008)?

The Sunday New York Times featured an article discussing the newest incarnation of the famous Clare Booth Luce play The Women. Nothing, since the George Cukor film that so many of us love and hold dear to our hearts, has been able to capture the magic of that theatrical all-women spectacle. There have been some really bad remakes like The Opposite Sex (1956), which in my opinion was the opposite of good (its got men, people!!!). And there have been some good remakes, like the televised Broadway play that featured Cynthia Nixon, of Sex and the City fame, in the title role.

It's been a long process to get the newest remake underway and in theatres. But can it hold up? Can Eva Mendes capture the cutting wit and ruthlessness of Crystal Allen (Joan Crawford in the original) when she says "there is a word for you ladies, but it isn't used in society... outside of a kennel". We'll just have to wait and see. The new film, features "little-girl-voiced blonde" Meg Ryan (in contrast to the "mellifluent brunet" Norma Shearer) and hits theatres on September 12th, with TCM fast on its heels, showing the original version on September 15th. In the meantime, check out the NYT article online as well as their chart comparing and contrasting the 1939 version to the 2008 one. Enjoy!

Article

Chart

Susegado, Preminger-wise

It's been kind of quiet lately, classic film-wise (as Jack Lemmon would say in The Apartment). I'll be taking a brief hiatus for the Labor Day weekend and I hope to come up with lots of new posts!

In September, I'll be starting my new Otto Preminger series. It's to prepare for my friend Kevin's lecture in November. If it weren't for the postal office losing my Netflix movies, I would have already started! Alas, I shall have to wait.

Here are the films I plan on watching and posting about here. If you are saying to yourself, why in the name of Helios is she not watching such Preminger classics as Laura, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Whirlpool, Fallen Angel, River of No Return and Anatomy of Murder? That's because I've already seen them, Silly! With so many Preminger films to see, I can't afford any repeats.

Angel Face (1953)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Cardinal (1963)
Man with the Golden Arm (1956)
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Bonjour Tristess (1958)

Check it out!

My good friend Kevin has just written a review on the classic film noir Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950). Go read it on Steve-O's site Noir of the Week!

Please also stop by Christian's excellent blog The Classic Film Show. And if you have spotted an image of a classic film star in your city (on the side of a building, on a shop sign, etc) please contribute to his "Stars in the City" post. An amazing idea and I'm excited to dust off my camera and give a shot (literally).

In Defense of Ernest Borgnine

He's 91 years old! Leave him alone!



oh and buy his new book





THE END

The Marx Bros. on Jeopardy!... and two hard-boiled eggs

On last night's Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, host Alex Trebek asked contestant Rachel Horn, 15, about her passion for the Marx Bros. movies. I was so impressed, not only by this girl's smarts but by the fact that she even knows who the Marx Bros. are, let alone be a fan of theirs. It fills me with pride to know that there are young people out there who value intelligence as well as classic films. Go Rachel! I'll be rooting for her tonight.

Guest Blogger: Kevin's 12 Movies Meme

Last but not least is Kevin, who has FINALLY done a 12 Movies Meme for me! Yay! His choices are great and the themes are hilarious! Enjoy.

I'm gonna link it up by giving a shout-out to Lazy Eye Theatre who started it all and Ibetolis at Film for the Soul who tagged me.

MONDAY

Theme: "Crime Is Just a Left-Handed Form of Human Endeavor"
Films: The Asphalt Jungle (1950) & The Killing (1956)
Reason: Two suspenseful noir heist films, both starring Sterling Hayden along with an ensemble of eclectic, oddball characters.

TUESDAY

Theme: "We Didn't Need Dialogue – We Had Faces!"
Films: Singin' in the Rain (1952) & Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Reason: Two entertaining movies about Hollywood. One, a delightful musical, hilariously depicting the creative challenges that came along with the advent of sound pictures - the other, a dark, baroque comedy about the casualties of the transition from silents to talkies.

WEDNESDAY

Theme: Stiff Upper Lips Sure Make it Hard to Kiss
Films: Brief Encounter (1946) & The Remains of the Day (1993)
Reason: Two of the most moving dramas I have seen about loneliness, longing, and unrequited love, each featuring a heart-wrenching crying scene by Celia Johnson and Emma Thompson, respectively.

THURSDAY

Theme: Long, Hot, and Steamy Summers in The Deep South!
Films: A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) & Baby Doll (1956)
Reason: Two hot, sexy Southern melodramas penned by Tennessee Williams, brought to you by Elia Kazan! Oh yeah, Karl Malden acts in both of them!

FRIDAY

Theme: Keep Those Anti-Depressants Handy…
Films: Wild Strawberries (1957) & Another Woman (1988)
Reason: See how Ingmar Bergman inspires Woody Allen. Victor Sjostrom and Gena Rowlands, respectively, play eminent professors who are revisited by the past. Their memories cause them to question the rigid way they have lived their lives.

SATURDAY

Theme: Adult Shenanigans + a Precocious Child's Imagination = TROUBLE!
Films: The Fallen Idol (1948) & Atonement (2007)
Reason: A child's misunderstanding of adult situations sets the plot in motion in these two great British dramas.

Noir of the Week - The Dark Corner (1946)

Check out my review of the film The Dark Corner (1946) on Steve-O's website Noir of the Week. Yay!

Guest Blogger Joanne

Fellow Golden Age of Hollywood member Joanne recently went to the Capitolfest 6 in Rome, NY. She honored me with the chance to post her thoughts on the festival and the films she's saw. Please see her post below! Also, check out her blog!

Please be courteous and address the guest author when you make comments to their post. Not to me! Thank you! And thank you to Joanne for sharing!

A Day at Capitolfest 6 by Joanne

On Sunday, August 10, 2008, I attended day three of Capitolfest 6 at the Capitol Theatre in Rome, N.Y. The festival bills itself as “a vacation -- not a marathon.” The intermissions and breaks provided are generous enough to allow attendees time to explore the 1928 movie palace, network with old friends, and make new ones.

Both Sunday sessions began with restored Vitaphone shorts. The day’s first feature Lets Go Native (1930) starred Jack Oakie as a wise-cracking taxi driver and Jeanette MacDonald as a Broadway star in love with a millionaire’s grandson. Jerry Orlando of the Syracuse Cinephile Society stated in his introduction that Lets Go Native was Leo McCarey’s first film for Paramount after leaving Hal Roach Studios. No kidding, this film was closer in spirit to a Roach short than it was to any of McCarey’s later sophisticated comedies. The silly, rather loose plot involves Miss MacDonald’s Broadway troupe traveling by ocean liner to put on a show in Buenos Aires. Later Miss MacDonald and her party are shipwrecked on a desert island ruled by King Jerry (“Skeets” Gallagher) and inhabited by a bevy of showgirls from Brooklyn. (Hey, I told you it was silly.) There is, however, a bit of sophistication provided by Miss Kay Francis in a small supporting role as an elegant socialite who even performs a romantic duet with Jack Oakie. Now there’s an odd couple!

Show Folks (1928), the second feature shown, was released by Pathé in both sound and silent versions. The silent version was screened accompanied by Bernie Anderson on the Capitol’s magnificent Moller Theatre Organ. Eddie Quillan starred as Eddie Kehoe, an arrogant vaudeville hoofer looking for his big break -- what an absolute jerk he was! Not only does Quillan dump his delightful dancing partner, Rita, played by Miss Lina Basquette, but he also rebuffs a young, stunning Carole Lombard who practically begs Quillan to marry her. To quote Dr. Phil, “What were you thinking?” Miss Basquette’s performance was energetic and sassy; her dancing was exceptionally good, too. My husband remarked that the film had a very authentic feel of what backstage life for vaudevillians might have been like.

In the afternoon session a short from the Screen Snapshots series was shown. “An Informal History of Hollywood” included some fascinating newsreel footage illustrating filmdom’s highlights from 1921 through 1938. I’d list the featured stars, but it would probably be briefer to tell you who was missing.

The plot summary for The Shakedown (1929), on the Capitolfest’s Web site, reads, "The life of a less-than successful professional boxer changes when he takes in an orphan." So I naturally thought this film must be something like The Champ (1931). Oh no, this film is nothing like The Champ. As William Wyler's powerful, gritty drama unfolds we see boxer James Murray struggle with his moral dilemma to be true to the orphan he has taken in while remaining firmly entrenched in a ruthless con job. Murray's performance was terrific, making it even sadder to consider how his bright film career was ruined by alcoholism, and that he would be dead within a few years after this film's release. Murray's supporting cast, Barbara Kent and Jack Hanlon, also contributed fine performances. Hanlon played the orphan without any cuteness or over-sentimentality. Wyler's genius is evident even in this early film. Pardon the pun, but I was absolutely knocked-out by the scenes of Murray working on an oil rig, the breath-taking rescue of the orphan, and of course the boxing sequences. Dr. Phillip C. Carli, George Eastman House's silent film accompanist, provided a magnificent score. The print shown was a 35mm restoration struck from a 16mm print belonging to a private collector. Seeing this film was a marvelous movie experience, but unfortunately subsequent screenings of The Shakedown in a period setting like the Capitol Theatre will be rare indeed.

In closing I just want to recognize the dedicated volunteers who made Capitolfest possible. The festival is a labor of love carried out by a band of very dedicated people with a passion for great classic film.

Out of the Past, Into the Now ~ Hays Code

NPR did a retrospect on the moment 40 years ago (1968) when the Hays Code was done away with in favor of a rating system instead.

Listen here: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=93301189&m=93455152
Read here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189

Yay!

Blog Updates

Just a few random things about me and the blog that I'd like to update you on...

I just did a post on The Invention of Hugo Cabret and will do one soon of M (graphic novel) on The Golden Age of Hollywood networking site. If you are not a member yet, please join!

Out of the Past ~ A Classic Film Blog is now on the Facebook blog networks. If you are a Facebook member, please join my network as a reader. If I get 15 readers, my network will feed updates onto Facebook which would be AWESOME. There is a link to join on my sidebar. Feel free to become my friend too!

The team "Bumpy Knights with Fastened Seatbelts" won second place in the Brattle Theater's Movie Trivia Night on Thursday. Our team consisted of Captain Kevin, me, Bob, Vivienne, Jeremy and Raquel (yes, it was Raquel X 2). I stunk but was able to help out with a few key questions including the tie-breaker for second place which had us approximate the closest if not actual date of Humphrey Bogart's birth. Both Kevin and I knew it was 1899 and it sealed our place! Woohoo! Fingers crossed for more movie trivia nights in the future.

If anyone knows where I can find a gold art deco fan necklace, e-mail me please!

Guest Blogger: Bob's 12 Movie Meme

Here are Bob's selections for the 12 Movie Meme! He's become my regular guest contributor to the site. Bob also really really likes using all caps, as you'll see below.

And I also want to thank the folks who participated in the tag! Much appreciated to Frank, Steve-O, Carrie, Ginger and Bob (::fingers crossed for Kevin::). Props to Lazy Eye Theater for starting it all and Ibetolis of Film for the Soul for tagging me.

MONDAY
THEME: IT’S NOT SMART TO TAUNT YOUR OPPONENT BEFORE A DUEL.
FILMS & REASON:

THE SEA HAWK (1940) ~Henry Daniell (the arrogant Lord Woffingham) to Errol Flynn (the gallant Captain Geoffrey Thorpe): “This time you won’t be as lucky as you were at Cadiz (referring to Flynn’s escape from the Spaniards, for whom Woffingham, a traitor to Queen Elizabeth, is working).” A minute later, Flynn runs him through.

THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940) ~ Basil Rathbone (the sneering Esteban) to Tyrone Power (the foppish Diego Vega):“You have a champion, Luis – and (his voice dripping with sarcasm) what a champion!” Rathbone still thinks Power is a feckless dandy, which he only pretends to be to conceal his true identity – the dashing Zorro! A minute later, Power runs him through.

TUESDAY
THEME: MY HAM IS SLICED THICKER THAN YOURS.
FILMS & REASON:

THE RAVEN (1935)
Bela Lugosi’s incomparable over-the-top performance as Dr. Richard Vollin, a mad plastic surgeon who has built replicas of Edgar Allan Poe’s torture devices in the basement of his mansion. Vollin lures the woman (Irene Ware) who has spurned his advances and her wimpy boyfriend (Lester Matthews) to his home and imprisons them in a chamber where the walls will slowly come together and crush the love-struck duo. Bateman (Boris Karloff), a gangster on the lam whose face Vollin has deliberately disfigured, is the madman’s reluctant accomplice. (And no, I’m not making any of this up.) Lugosi to Karloff: “What a torture! What a delicious torture, Bateman! Greater than Poe!Poe only conceived it; I have done it, Bateman! POE! YOU ARE …. AVENGED!!!!!!!!”

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE (1940)
Charles Middleton, gaunt, mean, hatchet-faced; here he plays – for the third and last time – the Emperor Ming, aka Ming the Merciless, the greatest outer space villain in the history of the movies. Confronted by Flash Gordon and his allies, Middleton, who never just spoke his lines if he could snarl them, exclaims: “I’ll release the Death Dust and kill them all!!!!” Need I say more?

WEDNESDAY
THEME: THEY MAY BE KILLERS, BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER MOTHER’S DAY.
FILMS & REASON:
NOTORIOUS (1946) ~When Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), the head of a Nazi cell in South America, discovers that his wife (Ingrid Bergman) is an American agent, he rushes to his mother’s bedside for guidance. His mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) tells him to poison Bergman and then offers this backhanded consolation: “Fortunately, we are protected by the enormity of your stupidity.”

WHITE HEAT (1949) ~Psycho mobster Cody Jarrett (Jimmy Cagney) suffers from excruciating headaches that only his Ma (Margaret Wycherly) can alleviate. He crawls into her lap, and she massages him, all the while encouraging his maniacal impulses: “Top of the world, son, top of the world.” When he finally gets there, it blows up in his face.

THURSDAY
THEME: THEY ONLY GAVE ME $25 FOR SPECIAL EFFECTS.
FILMS & REASON:

THE DEVIL BAT (1940) ~ The “giant” rodent hanging from the rafters in Bela Lugosi’s laboratory looks like a moth-eaten stuffed animal. I’ve seen scarier Beanie Babies.

BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955) ~Director Ed Wood bought a big rubber octopus from studio surplus, but didn’t have the cash to buy the motor that ran the damn thing. In his climatic death scene, the aging Bela Lugosi had to wrap the beast’s arms around his torso himself.

FRIDAY
THEME: TWO PERFECTLY CAST MOVIES
FILMS & REASON:
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938) ~ Errol Flynn as Robin, Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Gisbourne, Alan Hale as Little John, etc.

THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) ~
Bogart as Sam Spade, Mary Astor as Brigid O’Shaughnessy, Sydney Greenstreet as Kasper Gutman, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, Elisha Cook, Jr., as Wilmer, etc. As Justice Potter Stewart said about obscenity (“I know it when I see it”), you’ll know they’re perfectly cast when you watch these movies.

SATURDAY
THEME: MAD SCIENTISTS IN THE GRIP OF MEGALOMANIA RESORT TO PLAGIARISM
FILMS & REASON:
FRANKENSTEIN (1931) ~ Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein, screaming as his creation comes to life: “In the name of God, now I know what it feels like to be God!” Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932), quietly boasting after giving wild beasts human characteristics: “Do you know what it means to feel like God?”

The Stolen Jools (1931)

I had the pleasure of watching this 19-minute short filled with a whole slew of MGM stars. The premise of the story is that at a ball the previous night, Norma Shearer's jewels went missing. A detective sets on the case bumping into suspicious MGM stars along the way.

Everyone is a suspect! There are lots of cameos and its fun to watch purely for star spotting. Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Edward G. Robinson, Buster Keaton, Gary Cooper, the Little Rascals, Irene Dunne, Richard Barthelmess (I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw him!) and Barbara Stanwyck among others.

Some of the scenes make sense, but it's a little ridiculous when the introductions are stilted like:

"Hey I know you, you're Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. And everybody knows you! You're Loretta Young!"

Really? Run out of ideas, mayhaps? Besides that, it's campy fun and a pleasure to watch! You'll find it among the Bonus Materials on the Laurel & Hardy DVD The Flying Deuces.

Flying Deuces (1939)

When I watch a Laurel and Hardy film, I don't usually laugh. However that doesn't mean their films are not funny. Absolutely not! I enjoy them, along with Buster Keaton silents, Marx Bros talkies and various other forms of '20s and '30s comedy, with a sort of silent amusement. Take The Flying Deuces (1939) for example, which I hadn't planned to watch but Frank had lent me the DVD since it had The Stolen Jools (a short with Norma Shearer in it) as Bonus Material. Its got a few things that I just think make it magnificent. Hardy wants to commit suicide after being rejected by his lady love. But he doesn't want to do it alone and enlists his friend Laurel to join him. Hilarity ensues as they try to drown themselves in the river. But why should they kill themselves when they can join the Foreign Legion. Excellent. More fun follows when they take off to another land far far away. They are miserable and try to escape, with Laurel and Hardy involved in a madcap airplane accident that finds Hardy rising to the heavens as an angel. But its alright, he gets reincarnated into a horse (who wears the signature bowler hat and mustache, of course) to keep Laurel company. He should have stayed on "terra cotta" (as Laurel puts it) in the first place instead of 1) trying to drown himself and 2) trying to escape via biplane. But if that were the case, we wouldn't have had this wonderful film complete with Harpo-esque playing of a bedframe as a harp by Laurel. Supreme.

Sexiest Scenes in Film History: Teacher's Pet (1957)

I think the picture and its caption are self-explanatory don't you think? What could have turned out to be a boring movie with a young Doris Day still trying to find her stride as a romantic lead and an aging Clark Gable a little incredible as her suitor, was saved by this one great frame!

Guest Blogger: Frank's 12 Movies Meme

Finally! My friend Frank has given me a guest post. Yay! Here is Frank's contribution to the 12 Movie Meme. Enjoy!

Monday
Theme: Upstairs, Downstairs - plus a murder!
Films: Rules of the Game (1939) & Gosford Park (2001)
Reason: My favorite movies of their respective release years (1939 & 2001), examination of class structures in pre-WW2 France and England.

Tuesday
Theme: Shemp in the movies!
Films: Another Thin Man (1939) & Buck Privates (1941)
Reason: The amazing acting talents of Shemp Howard on display in feature films.

Wednesday
Theme: The Foreign Legion
Films: The Flying Deuces (1939) & Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Reason: Two great comedy duos enlist, and hilarious complications ensue.

Thursday
Theme: The Great Directors take on the Nazis
Films: The Great Dictator (1939) & Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Reason: Chaplin and Hitchcock with two of their best films.

Friday
Theme: Great Soundtracks
Films: The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) & Star Wars (1977)
Reason: Watching these two films just to listen to the score is perfectly acceptable.

Saturday
Theme: Who Done It?
Films: Who Done It? (1942) & Who Done It? (1956)
Reason: Abbott & Costello and Benny Hill trying to figure it out works for me.

12 Movies Meme

Tag! I'm it!

Ibetolis over at Film for the Soul tagged me to participate in the 12 Movies Meme started by Lazy Eye Theatre. I don't really get the rules so I kind of just went with a similar form based off of Ibetolis' entry. Basically I'm creating line-ups for 6 double-feature nights (Monday through Saturday), each with it's own theme. I've also provided a reason for why I chose that line-up. I have to tag 5 people and with an interesting twist, I'm tagging 3 guest bloggers (their responses I'll post here) and 3 bloggers. I know that's 6, but since I'm already breaking rules... My double-features and tags are listed below. Enjoy!

Monday
Theme: Right in the Belly - Poisonous Stories
Films: D.O.A. (1950) & Notorious (1946)
Reason: My favorite film noir matched with an astounding Hitchcock classic, both feature protagonists who have been poisoned.

Tuesday
Theme: Blonde Bette Davis Does Not Want to Kiss You
Films: Cabin in the Cotton (1932) & Of Human Bondage (1934)
Reason: Two great Bette Davis films, with her as a blonde, both include famous lines about kissing. Cabin in the Cotton - "I'd like to kiss ye, but I jus' washed ma hair". Of Human Bondage - "And after ya kissed me, I always used to wipe my mouth! WIPE MY MOUTH!"

Wednesday
Theme: Robert Mitchum Just Wants to Love on You
Films: Holiday Affair (1949) & Two for the Seesaw (1962)
Reason: Robert Mitchum's softer side shines through with these two romances. A delight for anyone who crushes on him.

Thursday
Theme: The Morning After ~ Ultra Sexy Pre-Codes
Films: Female (1933) & The Divorcee (1930)
Reason: One thing leads to another and well, you know... Women in charge of their sexuality. And a little Norma Shearer never hurt anyone.

Friday
Theme: Triumphant Triumvirates ~ Everything's Better in Threes
Films: Three on a Match (1932) & A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Reason: It's a shame I couldn't make this one into a triple-feature! Based on threes, great films about three very different women coming together in unusual circumstances.

Saturday
Theme: Multiple Families, Multiple Problems
Films: Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) & With Six You Get Eggroll (1968)
Reason: Two films that gave birth to The Brady Bunch. What happens when two families come together as one? Laughter is sure to follow.

TAGS
Frank ~ Guest Blogger
Bob ~ Guest Blogger
Kevin ~ Guest Blogger
Carrie ~ Classic Montgomery
Ginger ~ Asleep in New York
Steve ~ Film Noir of the Week

Emergency Alert! Watch Mad Men Immediately!

If you have yet to watch Mad Men the AMC original drama, go out and watch it. NOW! It's amazingly good. I was skeptical myself until I watched the first episode and got sucked in. It takes place in the 1960's during America's hey-day of Advertising. "Mad Men" refers to the men who worked in advertising on Madison Avenue in New York City. The period detail is exquisite and they bring in a lot of cultural and technological references. It's also a lot of sex, booze and tobacco but all the characters are interesting and their individual stories along with the relationships with each other makes for amazing TV. This is exactly what we need right now in what's proven to be a very tough economic climate. During the Depression, people flocked to the cinemas to watch others live the glamorous life on screen so they could live vicariously through them. Although I think today's contemporary audiences don't necessarily need to watch other contemporaries rejoice in their wealth, we do however want to escape to another time and place where things were very different. Either a time we lived in or a time our parents lived through. I'm a firm believer in understanding the present by understanding the past. But also take this show with a grain of salt. It's an exaggeration as TV shows tend to be.

So watch it please. Season 1's DVD is available now. I just ordered mine and am anxious to receive it in the mail.

I'll be keeping an eye out for classic film references made in the show. So far I have two. As I see them I'll point them out.

The Apartment (1960) ~ First Season. I think it's part of the foundation of the story as it also deals with affairs between men and women in an office setting. A character sees this in the theater and is affected by how Shirley MacLaine's character tries to commit suicide.

Butterfield 8 (1960) ~ Second Season. Conversation about how an old friend became a call girl and the comment was that that is very Butterfield 8.

Guest Blogger: Steve-O

Check out Steve-O from Film Noir of the Week's guest post about three great film noirs you probably haven't heard of. I enjoyed this post for two reasons. The first being it reminded me of the three films I got to see in the Unseen Noir series at the Harvard Film Archive. And also two of the films feature Bonita Granville! Yay! Enjoy Steve-O's post and feel free to share some of your favorite lesser-known noirs.

Three Great Film Noir You Never Heard Of by Steve-O

One of the coolest things about loving film noir is discovering lost, forgotten films. True, most lost films are forgotten for a reason. However, every now and then you find a film so amazing that it makes watching hours and hours of bad films worth while.

If you're new to classic film noir, I recommend you first check out all the great movies released on DVD over the past few years. Start off with big studio noirs like Out of the Past (1947), Criss Cross (1949) and Gilda (1946). Then work your way to the smaller budget films like Caged (1950) and D.O.A. (1950). If you're still a noir fan, step down to the Bs like Railroaded and Decoy.

There you have the three tiers of film noir. Don Miller, writing in "B" movies: An Informal Survey of the American Low-budget Film, notes that there were three classifications of movies during the 30s and 40s: “... the A, the B, and the programmers, sometimes alluded to as a 'nervous A' or 'gilt-edged B.' That hybrid would often play the top half of a double bill, have one or two fairly high-priced performers and, when a character walked into a room, the walls wouldn't shake as he shut the door; it looked reasonably opulent, but if a studio tried to palm it off as a big or A picture, you knew they were kidding.” The three films that I want to recommend fall into the B category. They're nearly impossible to find on television and I doubt they'll ever find their way to DVD. They are cheaply made without a movie star in sight. Nevertheless they're wonderful.

First is a film called Suspense. The 1946 film is – and I'm not kidding here – a figure-skating noir. Olympic figure skater Belita stars as a skater that dumps her mobster boyfriend for a peanut vendor (Barry Sullivan). The film is wonderfully strange with outstanding performances from Albert Dekker (The Killers) and Bonita Granville (her other noir role was The Guilty). The film is loaded with strange images (including Belita crashing through a giant Dali-like skull to begin a skating exhibition) and some true suspense.

Night Editor from the same year is based on a long-running radio series. The film begins, like the radio series, with a newspaper editor recounting a scandalous story from the past. Surprisingly, the story he tells is fatalistic and dark. A drunk cop spends his nights cheating on his wife with a sexy (and also married) society girl (a wicked performance by Janis Carter). The cheating couple witnesses the brutal murder of a woman on a dark street. The cop (William Gargan) doesn't stop the killer for fear that it would cause a scandal. He doesn't want it to get out that he was stepping out on his wife. To make matters worse, detective Cochrane – who has already been reprimanded for poor performance -- shows up to work hungover and is quickly assigned the murder. He has to investigate and at the same time find a way to cover up his role. His cars tire tracks at the scene makes him a potential suspect in the killing. 99-percent of the film is just perfect. The happy ending tacked on at the end is very annoying but not unexpected. However, this is a great little movie.




The third film I covered last week at the Noir of the Week blog. The Guilty (1948) is possibly the cheapest movie I have ever seen. The acting is wooden and the sets look like they just might fall down. However, it's a damned involving story of murder. A twin girl is killed in a dark, nameless city. The prime suspect is a WWII shell-shocked vet. A couple of other potential suspects include the “bad” sister's violent boyfriend and creepy middle-aged house member. Who did the killing? I found myself involved from beginning to end.






These three films are not easy to find. However, if you do get to see them you'll probably agree they're true black-and-white gems.

Blonde Bette Davis ~ Double Feature Pre-Codes

I had the opportunity to watch two Blonde Bette Davis pre-codes at the Brattle Theater last night. What a treat. Here are some of my quick thoughts on both films.

Bureau of Missing Persons (1933)

Even though Bette Davis doesn't even show up until mid-way through the movie, and with her comes the actual plot, I have to say I really enjoyed this film. It's entertaining and a little cheesy, just the way I like my '30s films to be! Plus it's got Lewis Stone! You can't go wrong with that. SPOILER ALERT! None of us quite expected the ending which involved Pat O'Brien's character giving his wife quite a beating. He had just found out that she was already married and had been conning him into giving her alimony. When the movie was over, I proclaimed that there was nothing like ending a film with some good ole domestic abuse!

Three on a Match (1932)

I had seen this movie a couple times previously, but it was wonderful to see it up on the big screen. I really enjoy this film and it's one of my top favorite pre-codes. But really it isn't a Bette Davis film even if she is part of the triumvirate. Her character is weak and really the only thing you get out of her performance is seeing Bette at her most beautiful. Three on a Match is really all about Ann Dvorak and Joan Blondell. This film is a cautionary tale warning people off of adultery and alcohol/drug abuse. The real victim is the little boy who has to watch his family fall apart. Its just a superb film and watching it again just solidified that for me.

Out of the Past - Into the Now: Misfit Mustangs

The relationship between humans and mustangs has always been a volatile one. Their size and their strength coupled with their wildness has made this species a threat to humans. The ways humans have treated mustangs over the years can be categorized in two ways. One approach has been to wrangle and hunt mustangs to either prove our strength as predators or to reduce their threat to us and our farmland. Another has been to see the mustang as a symbol of freedom and to sympathize and try to protect what has been a dying species.

The Sunday New York Times had an article about the debate on euthanizing select mustangs. The idea is to thin a captive herd which has been growing rapidly and is now at around 30,000.

I'm not forming an opinion or asking for one, whatever your thoughts are on the matter are strictly your concern. However, I do think this is an excellent example of how classic films can still speak to contemporary audiences. The Misfits (1961) explored the topic of the human relationship with wild mustangs. Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach are cowboys who make their living off of rodeos and hunting wild mustang. Marilyn Monroe plays a divorcee who is lured into the cowboy lifestyle, but is appalled by the killing of the mustangs. The most poignant scene is Clark Gable's final performance where he wrangles a mustang. Its difficult to watch as the physicality of it was most likely a factor in Gable's death just days later. This film was also Monroe's last and watching her break down in tears and hysterics has always been difficult for me to see as well. The film not only has amazing performances by all the principal actors but also a poignant dramatic story that has some relevance to audiences today.

An Ode to Tuesday Night

On a beautiful summer night, the Brattle Theater is packed with movie goers waiting for the 7:30 show. Its Bette Davis' 100th Birthday year and All About Eve (1950) will grace the screen in homage to the great actress. I am energized by the sight of so many people, who could have spent their Tuesday night doing something else, but chose to watch Bette Davis in her famous comeback role instead. We got ready for a deliciously bumpy night. The two hours that followed were filled with laughter, a result of the witty and cutting dialogue that peppered the film. Others laughter served as a catalyst and I found myself laughing at points that weren't even funny. I must have been spurred on by the sense of communal enjoyment. Applause filled the theater as the credits rolled and we were released into the warm air of a July evening. It was downstairs to Casablanca, for drinks and dessert with friends. It seemed fitting to go from one classic to another. It was as though we were following the stars in the Hollywood heavens, Davis and Bogart were our guides for the evening. Its nights like these that I realize how truly great life as a classic film lover can be.

I saw Mickey Rooney with my own two eyes!

Yes that's right. On Thursday night, my mother and I were in Atlantic City to see Mickey Rooney. That's right, the one and only Mickey Rooney. I was so excited. We ended up getting 2nd row seats and I was probably only about 6 feet away from him. It was an amazing show. The first act was Mickey on his own, reminscing about the good ole days, cracking some jokes, doing some impressions (notably Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable) and singing some tunes. It was great to see him. He is so TINY! And even for his age, he had a lot of spunk and vivacity. The second act was his wife Jan who I didn't realize was a professional singer. She sang several songs including some country western ones. My favorite though was when she sang the theme song to Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), one of Mickey's films, "Moon River". It was quite beautiful. Then the third act had them together. They shared lots of jokes about their marriage, including a funny one about a beer commercial they had done together a long time ago (see clip below). Mickey then surprised us with some soft-shoe dancing and some piano playing! That alone was worth the admission! I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I think I cried a bit when he talked about his good friend Judy Garland and sang one of their songs with a video clip of them singing together on Judy's show in the 60s. Quite moving. In the end, Mickey Rooney was born to entertain and that's what he did. And to have been able to witness him in action was something I'll never forget!

Awesomeness in the form of Mickey Rooney

More to come...

Guest Blogger Series

I have returned. I bring with me a sense of liberation, well-time for Independence Day. In a few months, I'll get my diploma in the mail and it will be official. I will have my Master's. Okay, I've done my boasting, now on to other things...

I decided that since Guest Blogger month didn't quite work out as I planned (I think the pressure of confining it to a month was too much pressure for potential guest bloggers, especially since I hounded them so), that I would turn it into a Guest Blogger series going on for the life of this blog. I've set some guidelines if you are interested in submitting. I'll try to post a link on the sidebar so you can refer to the Guest Blogger submission guidelines in future. All I ask is that you keep it original (no boring stuffy standard movie reviews) and that you keep it on the topic of classic films.

Guest Blogger Series Guideliness

1) Submit an idea to me via e-mail.
2) Once approved submit a completed post via e-mail. Word .doc files or Works .wps files are fine. But you can also keep it in the body of the e-mail if you wish.
3) I encourage you to include photos but it's not necessary. If you do, attach them to your e-mail, make sure they are low on the Megabytes preferably jpegs. You can also tell how you want the pictures to be placed within the text.
4) Confirm how you want to be credited. Real first name, pseudonym, alias, website, etc.
5) I reserve the right to link to movies and actors/actresses listed in the post. My links are primarily to TCM's website. I also reserve the write to inject year references after movies.
6) I'll forward you a permanent link for your records.
7) Your piece will get an introduction plus 3-4 days as being the most current post on the site.

~Raquelle~

Guest Blogger #3: Kevin's Submission

WOW

(The) Revisiting “Rebel” by Kevin

In 10 years you’ll never know this even happened!

This line is uttered once by each of the uncomprehending parents of Jim Stark (James Dean), the protagonist of Nicholas Ray’s 1955 classic “Rebel Without a Cause”. Jim’s well-meaning yet weak father (Jim Backus) tells him this before the legendary chicky run scene, a ritual where two teens each race a stolen car off the edge of cliff. The rule is that the driver who jumps out first is a chicken. Jim’s own participation in the chicky run owes itself to his need to prove his mettle to the cool kids in school, and to court his pretty, but also troubled, neighbor Judy (Natalie Wood) who runs with this crowd. When the chicky run results in the death of the other driver, Jim’s instinct to report the accident to the police is circumvented by his domineering mother (Ann Doran) who wants to save face and avoid scandal. It is here that the above line is repeated, this time by her. What Jim’s parents do not understand is that you are only as good as the decisions you make; the choices you make now will ultimately shape the person you will become later on. This is what the film is about.

I first watched this some time during my junior year of college (exactly 10 years ago), so coincidentally enough, it has taken ten years for this film to finally resonate with me. While I remember enjoying the movie back then, I wasn’t impressed enough to make a copy of it for myself. Maybe I couldn’t get past some of its melodramatics and the occasionally mannered acting of James Dean.

“you’re…Tearing.. ME APART!!!” Need I say more?

Maybe I was annoyed by the fact that the character, Plato (Sal Mineo), whose adoration for Jim Stark is so sensitively portrayed throughout the movie, descends into madness by the end of the movie…an outcome typical for gay characters in movies of this time. Or maybe I was prevented from liking the movie because all the crazy events implausibly take place over the course of a single day.

All this being said, I have come to the conclusion that I was fated to see “Rebel Without a Cause” again.

I date it back to the end of March when I visited Hollywood for the first time. My friend Blythe quizzed me about the Griffith Observatory, asking me if I knew which famous movie was shot there. I had no idea. I am not sure whether or not he told me the answer by the time we finally visited the Observatory on our last day, but when I finally saw the Observatory with my own eyes, the memories of “Rebel’s” knife fight scene came flooding back. It‘s more than possible that this trip led me to eventually buy myself the James Dean DVD box set, and to dress up as James Dean in his most iconic film role for my movie character-themed 30th Birthday Party a couple months later.

My instant recollection of “Rebel Without a Cause” while at the Griffith Observatory is a testament to how well Nicholas Ray used locations in this film We don’t often think about it, but the setting of a movie really dictates how we receive and absorb it. The locations in “Rebel” really support it thematically. This movie depicts teenagers literally living on the edge, so the fact that the Griffith Observatory is situated high in the Hollywood Hills is perfectly suitable to this aspect of the film, not to mention the later chicky run scene at Millertown Bluff. The other great location in this movie is the abandoned mansion in which Jim, Judy and Plato take refuge. I was struck by the scenes taking place at the swimming pool in particular. The love and camaraderie between the three characters at this point in the films contrasts with the stark emptiness of the swimming pool at night in an eerie kind of way.

Another hallmark of “Rebel Without a Cause” is its composition of images in widescreen CinemaScope format. The showiest and most breath-taking shot is one of Jim’s mother as she descends the staircase and approaches him. Jim’s reclining upside down on the living room couch, and the shot, taken from his point-of-view, mirrors this! Another great shot occurs in the middle of the confrontation scene between Jim and his parents. Jim’s mother is at the top of the staircase yelling at Jim and the father in a threatening manner. The father is at the bottom of the staircase, pleading and placating. Jim is in the middle and then the camera does something really bold. It tilts! This tilting gives the viewer a feeling of a being on a seesaw and, as a result, supports this intense battle of wills in a subtle and visual way. Virtuoso shots like these were so compromised in the days of pan-and-scan VHS format. It confirms my belief that DVD is the best thing that has happened to movies, particularly the classics.

“Rebel Without a Cause” stills remains fresh after over 50 years. Despite some moments where it feels dated (one teen uses the word “poopheads” during the Griffith Observatory knife fight) there are many elements that are pretty ballsy! Many scenes and inferences in this film raised some red flags with the censors at the time, and it’s easy to see why. I’m referring to the fact that the cars they race at the Millertown Bluff are stolen cars. The cars aren’t shown to be stolen. It is just implied. I think the shock value of this is the way in which the delinquency of these otherwise wholesome-looking, upper middle-class teens is underplayed and incidental to the plot.

I could go on and on about all the technical aspects and great production values, but at the end of the day I like a movie that affects me on an emotional level. I still feel that “Rebel Without a Cause” is full of melodramatics, but it’s extremely eloquent in the way it depicts Jim’s desire to live up to his best self and intentions, to be able to live authentically even when he‘s surrounded by inauthentic people who role-play and cave in to the expectations of others. The film drives home the difficulty of making personal decisions that could affect how one lives one’s life. Jim’s parents are illustrations of the distorted and jaded person Jim could potentially become if he allows himself to make decisions based on cowardice and selfishness, as they have. Universal themes like these make it so clear why this movie still holds up today.

For these reasons, I feel very glad to have revisited “Rebel". Or maybe I was revisited by it.